1  MlI 

ADVENTURES 
OF  THE  U-2Q 


AN  ACTUAL  NARRATIVE 


BARON  SPIEGEL 
^  VON  UND  ZU  - 

PECKELSHEIM 

(CAPTAIN  liEirr^MANX 
COMMANDER  Or  THE 
U-202). 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2008  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/adventuresofu20200spierich 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF 
THE  U-202 


THE 

ADVENTURES 
OF  THE  U-202 

AN  ACTUAL  NARRATIVE 


BY 

BARON  SPIEGEL 
VON  UND  ZU  PECKELSHEIM 

(CAPTAIN-LIEUTENANT.  COMMANDER  OF  THE  U-202) 


NEW  YORK 

THE  CENTURY  CO. 

1917 


3^  S^W 


Copyright,  1917,  by 
The  Century  Co. 


Copyright,  1917,  by 
John  N.  Wheeler,  Inc. 


Published,  February,  1917 
by  arrangement  with  New  York  World 


PREFACE 

T  WAS  sitting  on  the  conning  tower 
-*-  smoking  a  cigarette.  Then  the 
splash  of  a  wave  soaked  it.  I  tried  to 
draw  another  puff.  It  tasted  loath- 
some and  frizzled.  Then  I  became 
angry  and  threw  it  away. 

I  can  see  my  reader's  surprised  ex- 
pression. You  had  expected  to  read  a 
serious  U-boat  story  and  now  such  a 
ridiculous  beginning !  But  I  know  what 
I  am  doing.  If  I  had  once  thrown  my- 
self into  the  complicated  U-boat  system 
and  used  a  bunch  of  technical  terms, 
this  story  would  be  shorter  and  more 
quickly  read  through,  but  you  would 
not  have  understood  half  of  it. 

Seriousness  will  come,  bitter  and  piti- 

T 


PREFACE 

able  seriousness.  In  fact,  everything  is 
serious  which  is  connected  with  the  life 
on  board  a  submarine  and  none  of  it  is 
funny;  although  in  fact  it  is  the  hun- 
dred small  inconveniences  and  peculiar 
conditions  on  a  U-boat  which  make 
life  on  it  remarkably  characteristic. 
And  in  order  to  bring  to  the  public  a 
closer  knowledge  concerning  the  pecul- 
iar life  on  board  a  U-boat  I  am  writing 
this  story.  Good — ^therefore  my  log- 
book! Yes,  why  should  I  not  make 
use  of  it?  To  this  I  also  wish  to  add 
that  I  not  only  used  my  own  log-book 
but  also  at  many  places  had  use  of  other 
U-boats'  logs  in  order  to  present  one 
or  another  episode  which  is  worth  the 
while  relating.  Thus,  for  example,  the 
story  of  the  many  fishing-smacks,  which 
are  spoken  of  in  the  chapter  called 
"Rich  Spoils,"  is  borrowed,  but  the  hap- 
vi 


PREFACE 

penings  in  the  witch  kettle,  the  adven- 
ture with  the  English  bulldog,  and  also 
most  of  the  other  chapters  are  my  own 
feathers  with  which  I  have  adorned  this 
little  story.  This  is  the  only  liberal 
right  of  an  author  which  I  permit  my- 
self. The  style  of  the  story  from  a  log- 
book is  simple  and  convenient,  and  one 
buys  so  willingly  such  stories.  See  there 
two  valid  reasons  for  making  use  of  it. 

The  Authoe. 


yu 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I    OUR   FIRST   SUCCESS 3 

II    AN    EVENTFUL    NIGHT 21 

III  THE  SINKING  OF  THE  TRANSPORT    46 

IV  RICH    SPOILS 68 

V    THE    WITCH-KETTLE 91 

VI    A  DAY  OF  TERROR 115 

VII    A    LIVELY    CHASE 140 

VIII  THE    BRITISH    BULL-DOG    .    •    .    .  163 

IX    HOMEWARD    BOUND! 189 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE 
U-202 


THE   ADVENTURES 
OF  THE  U-202 


OUR  FIRST   SUCCESS 

At  the  hunting  grounds  North  Sea, 
April  12,  19 — Course:  northwest. 
Wind:  southwest,  strength  3-4-  Sea: 
strength  3,  View:  good.  Both  ma- 
chines in  high  speed. 

WE  were  very  comfortable  in 
the  conning  tower  because  the 
weather  was  fine  and  the  sun  burned 
with  its  heat  our  field-gray  skin  jackets. 
"Soon  we  will  have  summer,"  I  said 
to  the  officer  on  guard,  Lieutenant 
Petersen,  who  was  sitting  with  me  on 
the  conning  tower's  platform.  I  felt 
S 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

entirely  too  hot  in  my  thick  underwear. 

Petersen,  who,  like  me,  was  sitting 
with  his  legs  dangling  in  the  open  hatch 
on  whose  edge  we  had  placed  ourselves, 
put  his  hand  on  the  deck  and  loosened 
the  thick,  camel's  wool  scarf,  twice 
wrapped  around  his  neck,  as  if  sud- 
denly he  realized  it  was  too  hot  for  him, 
too. 

"I  think  I'll  soon  discharge  this  one 
from  service,"  said  Petersen,  and  pulled 
at  the  faithful  winter  friend  as  if  he 
wished  to  strip  it  off. 

"Don't  be  too  hasty,  my  dear  lieuten- 
ant," I  replied  laughing.  "Just  wait 
until  to-night,  and  then  I  am  sure  that 
you  will  repent  and  take  your  faithful 
friend  back  into  the  service." 

"Are  we  going  to  keep  above  the  wa- 
ter to-night,  Herr  Captain-Lieutenant, 
or  are  we  to  submerge?"  he  asked  me. 
4 


OUR  FIRST  SUCCESS 

"It  depends  on  what  comes  up,"  I 
answered.  "It  rests  as  usual  with  the 
weather." 

Thus  we  were  talking  and  smoking 
on  the  conning  tower  while  our  eyes 
scanned  the  horizon  and  kept  a  sharp 
lookout  all  around  us. 

On  the  little  platform,  which  in  a 
sharp  angle  triangle  unites  itself  from 
behind  with  the  tower,  the  subordinate 
officer  corporal  was  on  guard,  and  with 
a  skin  cloth  was  cleaning  the  lenses  on 
his  double  spy-glass,  which  were  wet. 

"Did  you  also  get  a  dousing,  Krap- 
pohl?"  I  asked.  "Then  you  didn't  look 
out,  either.  That  rascal  soaked  my  ciga- 
rette just  as  he  did  the  lenses  on  your 
spy-glass.  That's  the  dickens  of  a 
trick." 

With  the  word  "rascal"  I  meant  the 
splashing  ware,  which,  while  the  sea  was 
5 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

in  a  perfect  calm,  without  any  reason 
climbed  up  to  us  on  the  tower.  If  there 
had  been  a  storm  it  would  have  been 
nothing  to  mention.  Then  we  often 
did  not  have  a  dry  thread  on  our  bodies. 
But  such  a  shameless  scoundrel,  which 
in  the  midst  of  the  most  beautiful 
weather  suddenly  throws  himself  over  a 
person,  is  something  to  make  one  angry. 
We  made  good  speed.  The  water, 
which  was  thrown  aside  by  the  bow, 
passed  by  us  in  two  wide  white  formed 
streaks.  The  motor  rattled  and  rum- 
bled, and  the  ventilation  machine  in  the 
so-called  "Centrale"  right  under  our 
feet  made  a  monotonous  buzzing. 
Through  the  only  opening  where  the  air 
could  pass  out,  the  open  tower  hatch, 
all  kinds  of  odors  flowed  one  after  an- 
other from  the  lower  regions  right  by 
our  noses.  First  we  smelled  smear-oil. 
6 


OUR  FIRST  SUCCESS 

Then  the  fragrance  of  oranges  (we  had 
with  us  a  large  shipment,  which  we  had 
received  as  a  gift  of  love),  and  now — 
ah!  Now  it  was  coffee,  a  strong  aro- 
matic coffee  odor. 

Lieutenant  Petersen  moved  back  and 
forth  unrestingly  on  the  "swimwest," 
with  which  he  had  tried  to  make  it  a 
little  more  comfortable  for  himself  on 
the  hard  sitting  place,  bent  deeper  and 
deeper  down  into  the  hatch  inhaling 
with  greed  the  odor  from  below,  and 
said,  as  he  in  pleasant  anticipation  be- 
gan to  rub  his  hands  together: 

"Now  we'll  have  coffee,  Herr  Cap- 
tain-Lieutenant !" 

I  had  just  with  a  great  deal  of  trou- 
ble pulled  out  a  cigarette-case  from  the 
inside  pocket  of  my  skin  jacket  and 
was  groping  in  my  other  pockets  for 
matches,  when  a  hand  (the  gloves  num- 
7 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

ber  9%)  with  outstretched  forefinger 
reached  towards  me  from  behind  and 
the  subordinate  officer's  excited  voice 
announced: 

"A  cloud  of  smoke  four  points 
port." 

As  quickly  as  lightning  the  spy-glass 
was  placed  to  the  eye.  "Where?  Oh, 
yes,  there.    I  can  see  it!" 

"As  yet,  only  smoke  can  be  seen. 
Isn't  it  so?" 

In  what  a  suspense  we  were  now. 
Leaning  forward,  and  with  the  glasses 
pressed  to  the  eye,  we  gazed  on  the  lit- 
tle, distant,  cloud  of  smoke.  It  curled, 
then  bent  with  the  wind  and  slowly  dis- 
solved in  a  long,  thin  veil-like  streak. 
Nothing  but  smoke  could  be  seen,  a 
sign  that  the  air  was  clear,  and  one 
could  see  all  the  way  to  the  extreme 
horizon. 

8 


OUR  FIRST  SUCCESS 

What  kind  of  a  ship  could  it  be, 
which  the  curved  form  of  the  earth  still 
concealed  from  our  view?  Was  it  a 
harmless  freighter,  a  proud  passenger 
steamer,  an  auxiliary  cruiser,  or  maybe 
an  armored  cruiser  jammed  with  can- 
non? 

It  was  with  a  feeling,  wavering  be- 
tween hope  and  fear,  that  these  thoughts 
occupied  my  mind — fear,  not  for  the 
enemy,  because  we  were  anxious  to  meet 
him — but  fear  that  a  disappointment 
would  fall  on  us,  if  the  ship  proved  to 
be  a  neutral  steamer  when  it  came 
closer.  Seven  times  we  had  during  three 
days  experienced  such  disappoint- 
ment, seven  times  we  had  met  neutral 
ships  without  contraband  on  board,  and 
had  been  compelled  to  let  them  con- 
tinue on  their  way. 

The  distance  between  us  and  the 
9 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-£02 

steamer  had  not  diminished,  so  that  its 
masts  and  a  funnel  arose  above  the  hori- 
zon, two  narrow,  somewhat  slanting 
lines,  between  which  there  was  a  thicker 
dark  spot.  A  common  freighter,  there- 
fore. This  we  saw  at  the  first  glance. 
I  changed  our  course  northwardly  in 
order  to  head  off  the  course  of  the 
steamer  which  was  going  in  an  easterly- 
direction.  With  the  highest  speed  the 
machine  could  make  we  raced  to  meet 
them  and  the  bridge  and  part  of  the  hull 
could  already  be  seen. 

"To  the  diving  stations!  Artillery 
alarm.  Cannon  service  on  deckl  First 
torpedo  tube  ready  for  fire!" 

With  loud  voice  I  called  down  these 
commands  into  the  boat. 

There  was  a  stir  in  the  passages  be- 
low like  when  a  stone  is  thrown  into 
the  midst  of  a  swarm  of  bees.  From 
10 


OUR  FIRST  SUCCESS 

below  it  arose,  and  the  men  who  were 
to  serve  at  the  cannons  crowded  on  the 
narrow  precipitous  ladder,  swung  them- 
selves through  the  tower  hatch  and 
leaped  on  the  deck.  Now,  first,  just 
once,  a  deep  breath,  so  that  the  lungs 
can  draw  the  refreshing  sea  air,  and 
then  with  their  sleeves  turned  up  and 
flashing  eyes  to  the  guns. 

"Can  you  see  any  neutral  signs, 
Petersen?" 

"No,  Herr  Captain-Lieutenant.  The 
entire  hull  is  black.  It's  an  English- 
man." 

"The  flag  of  war  to  the  mast!  The 
usual  signals  ready!"  I  called  down  into 
the  tower. 

Immediately  our  flag  of  war  floated 

from  the  top  of  the  mast  behind  the 

tower.     It  told  the  men  over  there: 

"Here    am    I,    a    German    submarine 

11 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U- 

U-boat.  Now  for  it,  you  proud  Brit- 
isher! Now  it  will  be  seen  who  rules 
the  sea." 

We  had  gradually  drawn  closer  to  a 
distance  of  about  six  thousand  meters. 
At  last  an  enemy !  After  so  many  neu- 
tral steamers.  At  last  an  enemy!  An 
intense  joy  thrilled  us,  a  joy  which  only 
can  be  compared  with  the  hunter's 
when  he  sees  at  last  the  longed-for  prey 
coming  within  range,  after  long  and 
fruitless  efforts.  We  had  traveled  many 
hundred  sea  miles.  We  had  endured 
storm,  cold,  and  at  times  had  been 
drenched  to  the  skin,  and  there,  only 
two  points  port,  our  first  success  was 
waving  towards  us! 

By  this  time  we  must  have  been  dis- 
covered by  the  steamer.  Now  our  flag 
of  war  must  have  been  recognized.  A 
ghastly  horror  must  have  seized  the  cap- 
lie 


OUR  FIRST  SUCCESS 

tain  on  the  bridge :    The  U-boat  terror ! 
the  U-boat  pest ! 

But  the  captain  on  the  steamer  did 
not  give  in  so  easily.  He  tried  to  save 
himself  by  flight.  Suddenly  we  saw 
how  the  steamer  belched  forth  thicker 
and  darker  clouds  of  smoke  and  in  a 
sharp  curve  turned  port.  Its  propeller 
water,  which  hitherto  could  hardly  be 
seen,  was  whipped  to  a  white  foam,  and 
let  us  know  the  machines  had  been  put 
into  the  highest  possible  speed.  But  it 
was  of  no  use.  No  matter  how  much 
the  captain  was  shouting  and  how  much 
the  machinist  drove  his  sweating  and 
naked  fire  crew  to  even  more  than  hu- 
man endeavors,  so  that  the  coal  flew 
about  and  the  boilers  were  red,  every- 
thing was  useless.  We  closed  in  on 
him  with  a  horrible  certainty  nearer 
and  nearer. 

18 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

For  some  time  I  had  been  standing 
high  up  on  the  tower  with  a  spy-glass 
before  my  eyes  and  did  not  lose  one  of 
the  steamer's  motions.  Now  it  seemed 
to  me  the  right  moment  had  come  to 
energetically  comimand  the  steamer  to 
stop. 

"A  shot  above  the  steamer!  Fire!" 
The  granite  landed  two  hundred  me- 
ters in  front  of  the  steamer.  We  waited 
a  few  minutes,  but  when  the  shot  did 
not  cause  any  change  I  gave  the  right 
distance  to  the  gunners  and  shouted  the 
command  to  aim  at  the  steamer.  The 
second  shot  hit  and  a  thick,  black  and 
yellow  cloud  from  the  explosion  shot 
into  the  air.  The  third  shot  tore  a  piece 
off  the  funnel,  the  fourth  hit  the  bridge, 
and  before  the  fifth  had  left  the  mouth 
of  the  gun  the  signal  flew  up,  "I  have 
stopped." 

14 


OUR  FIRST  SUCCESS 

Ah!  old  friend,  you  had  come  to.it, 
anyhow! 

An  old  sea-rule  says:  "Carefulness 
is  the  best  seamanship."  Regarding  all 
the  tricks  and  subterfuges  which  the 
hostile  merchant  -  marine  has  used 
against  us,  I  did  not  consider  it  advis- 
able to  advance  nearer  the  steamer  at 
once.  I  therefore  also  stopped  our  ma- 
chines and  signaled:  "Leave  the  ship 
immediately!" 

The  signal  was  unnecessary.  The 
English  captain  had  himself  given  the 
command  to  the  crew  to  take  to  the 
boats  after  he,  frothing  with  anger,  had 
comprehended  the  impossibility  to  flee. 
Snorting  with  wrath,  he  shortly  after- 
wards came  alongside  our  boat,  and 
handed  me  at  my  request  the  ship's  pa- 
pers and  asked  me  to  tow  the  three 
boats  to  the  neighborhood  of  the  coast. 
15 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

I  promised  this  and  said  some  simple 
words  to  him  in  regard  to  his  bad  luck 
and  concerning  the  grim  necessity  of  the 
war — ^which  he  dismissed  with  an  angry 
shrug  of  his  shoulders.  I  certainly  could 
understand  the  man's  bad  spirit. 

I  then  went  forward  and  torpedoed 
the  steamer,  which  sank,  stern  fore- 
most, with  a  gurgling  sound  into  the 
deep. 

At  the  same  time  four  thousand  tons 
of  rice  were  lost  to  the  English  market. 

We  had  met  with  success  and  this 
put  us  into  the  highest  spirits.  Come 
whatever  wants  to  come,  our  voyage  had 
not  been  entirely  useless. 

When  I  stepped  down  into  the  boat 
for  a  moment  and  passed  through  the 
narrow  crew-room  to  my  own  little 
cabin,  I  saw  to  right  and  left  joyful 
faces,  and  all  eyes  were  smiling  to- 
16 


OUR  FIRST  SUCCESS 

wards  me  as  if  they  wished  to  say: 
"Congratulations!"  The  steamer's  sink- 
ing was  the  subject  of  discussion. 
Those  who  had  witnessed  the  incident 
had  to  describe  all  the  circumstances  in 
smallest  detail;  where  the  torpedo  had 
struck,  how  high  the  water-pillar  had 
risen,  and  what  afterwards  happened 
to  the  steamer,  how  the  people  on  the 
boat  looked,  and  the  like.  Everything 
had  to  be  explained. 

When  I  went  back  some  one  said: 
"To-morrow  it  will  be  in  the  papers." 
These  words  whirled  around  in  my  head 
for  some  time.  Yes,  to-morrow  there 
would  be  in  all  the  German  newspapers 
under  the  column:  "Ships  sunk"  or 
"Sacrifices  to  the  U-boat  war,"  that 
once  more  we  had  retaliated  on  our  most 
hated  enemy,  that  his  inhuman  attempt 
to  starve  our  people  had  been  parried 
17 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  V-W2 

by  a  horrid  and  strong  blow.  And  over 
there  upon  his  isle  our  relentless  enemy 
would  receive  the  same  kind  of  a  news- 
paper notice.  The  only  difference  was 
that  there  it  would  cause  fury  instead 
of  joy,  and  the  dried-up  old  English 
editor  would  stare  terrified  on  the  tele- 
gram which  he  would  hold  in  his  hand, 
pull  oif  his  few  white  threads  of  hair, 
and  swear  as  only  an  Englishman  can 
swear. 

Even  up  to  the  dusk  of  the  night,  we 
towed  the  sunken  freighter's  three  boats 
towards  the  coast.  We  then  cut  loose 
in  order  to  get  ready  to  manoeuver. 
When  darkness  set  in,  one  had  to  be 
ready  for  surprises.  Besides,  we  were 
not  very  far  from  land  and  the  weather 
was  fair,  so  that  the  boats  could  be  in 
no  danger.  As  a  refreshment,  I  had 
three  bottles  of  wine  brought  over  to 
18 


OUR  FIRST  SUCCESS 

the  captain  of  the  ill-fated  ship,  and 
left  him  with  best  greetings  to  Mr. 
Churchill  and  his  colleagues. 

The  last  streak  of  day  became  paler 
and  paler  in  the  west.  The  spook-like 
red  cloud-riders  stretched  themselves 
more  and  more,  became  indistinct, 
pulled  themselves  asunder,  and  at  once 
were  swept  away.  In  their  place  ap- 
peared the  dark  demon  of  the  night, 
spread  itself  over  heaven,  hid  all  the 
stars,  and  settled  heavily  over  the  sea. 

This  was  just  a  night  suitable  for  us. 
One  could  not  see  one's  hand  before  the 
eye.  The  steel  covers  on  the  tower  win- 
dows were  tightly  shut,  so  that  the  least 
ray  of  light  could  not  escape.  Entirely 
invisible  we  were  gliding  forward  in  the 
dark.  Dumb  and  immovable,  each  one 
was  sitting  at  his  post — the  lieutenant, 
the  subordinate  officer,  and  the  com- 
19 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

mander — ^trying  with  our  eyes  to  pierce 
through  the  darkness  and  turning  our 
heads  continually  from  right  to  left  and 
back  again.  The  aim  of  our  voyage  was 
still  far  off  and  the  fine  weather  had  to 
be  used. 

Weakly,  as  if  from  a  far  distance,  the 
phonograph's  song  reached  us  lonely 
watchmen: 
"Reach  me  thy  hand,  thy  dear  hand ; 
Live  well,  my  treasure,  live  well! 
'Cause  we  travel  now  to  Eng-eland, 

Live  well,  my  treasure,  live  well, 
'Cause  we  travel  now  to  Eng-eland." 


90 


II 

AN  EVENTFUL  NIGHT 

WHAT  peculiar  sensations  filled 
me.  We  were  at  war — the  most 
insane  war  ever  fought!  And  now  I 
am.  a  commander  on  a  U-boat! 

I  said  to  myself: 

"You  submarine,  you  undersea  boat, 
you  faithful  U-202,  which  has  obedi- 
ently and  faithfully  carried  me  thou- 
sands of  miles  and  will  still  carry  me 
many  thousand  miles!  I  am  a  com- 
mander of  a  submarine  which  scatters 
death  and  destruction  in  the  ranks  of 
the  enemy,  which  carries  death  and  hell 
fire  in  its  bosom,  and  which  rushes 
through  the  water  like  a  thoroughbred. 
21 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

What  am  I  searching  for  in  the  cold, 
dark  night?  Do  I  think  about  honor 
and  success?  Why  does  my  eye  stare 
so  steadily  into  the  dark?  Am  I  think- 
ing about  death  and  the  innumerable 
mines  which  are  floating  away  off  there 
in  the  dark,  am  I  thinking  about  enemy 
scouts  which  are  seeking  me? 

"No!  It  is  nerves  and  foolish  senti- 
ments born  of  foolish  spirits.  I  am  not 
thinking  about  that.  Leave  me  alone 
and  don't  bother  me.  I  am  the  mas- 
ter. It  is  the  duty  of  my  nerves  to 
obey.  Can  you  hear  the  melodious  song 
from  below,  you  weakling  nerves?  Are 
you  so  dull  and  faint  hearted  that  it 
does  not  echo  within  you?  Do  you  not 
know  the  stimulating  power  which  the 
thin  metal  voice  below  can  inspire  with- 
in you? 

"This  song  brings  greetings  to  you 


AN  EVENTFUL  NIGHT 

from  a  distance  of  twelve  hundred  miles 
and  through  twelve  hundred  miles  it 
comes  to  you.  Ahead  we  must  look;  we 
must  force  our  eyes  to  pierce  the  dark- 
ness on  all  sides." 

The  spy-glass  flew  to  the  eye.  There 
is  a  flash  in  the  west.    A  light! 

"Hey,  there!  Hey!  There  is  some- 
thing over  there " 

"That  is  no  ordinary  light.  What 
about  it?" 

Lieutenant  Petersen  was  looking 
through  his  night  glasses  at  the  light. 

"I  believe  he  is  signaling,"  he  said 
excitedly.  "The  light  flashes  continu- 
ally to  and  fro.  I  hope  it  is  not  a  scout 
ship  trying  to  speak  with  some  one." 

Hardly  had  the  lieutenant  uttered 
these  words  when  we  all  three  jumped 
as  if  electrified,  because  certainly  in  our 
immediate  neighborhood  flashed  before 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

us  several  quick  lights  giving  signals, 
which  undoubtedly  came  from  the  ship 
second  in  line,  which  was  signaling  to 
our  first  friend. 

"Great  God!  An  enemy  ship!  Not 
more  than  three  hundred  meters 
ahead!"  I  exclaimed  to  myself. 

"Hard  a  starboard!  Both  engines  at 
highest  speed  ahead !  To  the  diving  sta- 
tions!" 

In  a  subdued  voice,  I  called  my  com- 
mands down  the  tower. 

The  phonograph  in  the  crew-room 
stopped  abruptly.  A  hasty,  eager  run- 
ning was  discernible  through  the  entire 
boat  as  each  one  hurried  to  his  post. 

The  boat  immediately  obeyed  the  rud- 
der and  was  flying  to  starboard.  Be- 
tween the  two  hostile  ships  there  was  a 
continuous  exchange  of  signals. 

"God  be  praised  it  is  so  dark!"  I  ex- 


AN  EVENTFUL  NIGHT 

claimed  with  a  deep  breath  as  soon  as 
the  first  danger  had  passed. 

"And  to  think  that  the  fellow  had  to 
betray  his  presence  by  his  chattering 
signals  just  as  we  were  about  to  run 
right  into  his  arms,"  was  the  answer. 
"This  time  we  can  truly  say  that  the 
good  God,  Himself,  had  charge  of  the 
rudder." 

The  engineer  appeared  on  the  stair- 
way which  leads  from  the  "Centrale" 
up  to  the  conning  tower. 

"May  I  go  to  the  engine-room,  Herr 
Captain-Lieutenant  ?" 

It  was  not  permissible  for  him  to 
leave  his  diving  station,  the  "CentraJe," 
which  is  situated  in  the  center  of  the 
boat,  without  special  permission. 

"Yes,  Herr  Engineer,  go  ahead  down 
and  fire  up  hard!"  I  replied. 

The  thumping  of  the  heavy  oil-mo- 
25 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  V-W2 

tors  became  stronger,  swelled  higher 
and  higher,  and,  at  last,  became  a  long 
drawn  out  roar,  and  entirely  drowned 
the  sound  of  the  occasional  jolts  which 
always  were  distinctly  discernible  when 
going  at  slower  speed.  One  truly  felt 
how  the  boat  exerted  its  strength  to  the 
utmost  and  did  everything  within  its 
power. 

We  had  put  ourselves  on  another 
course  which  put  the  anxiously  signal- 
ing Britishers  obliquely  aport  of  our 
stern,  and  rushed  with  the  highest  speed 
for  about  ten  minutes  until  their  lights 
became  smaller  and  weaker.  We  then 
turned  point  by  point  into  our  former 
course,  and  thus  slipped  by  in  a  large 
half  circle  around  the  hostile  ships. 

"Just  as  a  cat  around  a  bowl  of  hot 
oatmeal,"  said  Lieutenant  Petersen. 

"No,  my  dear  friend,"  I  said  laugh- 


AN  EVENTFUL  NIGHT 

ingly,  "it  does  not  entirely  coincide. 
The  cat  always  comes  back,  but  the 
oatmeal  is  too  hot  for  us  in  this  case. 
Or  do  you  think  that  I  intend  to  circle 
around  those  two  rascals  for  hours?" 

"Preferably  not,  Herr  Captain-Lieu- 
tenant.   It  could  end  badly!" 

"Both  engines  in  highest  speed  for- 
ward, let  the  crew  leave  the  diving  sta- 
tions, place  the  guards!"  I  ordered. 

The  danger  had  passed.  Normal  con- 
ditions at  night  could  again  be  resumed. 
But  before  the  morning  set  in,  we  again 
experienced  all  kinds  of  adventures. 
The  night  was  as  if  bewitched.  There 
was  no  sleep  worth  mentioning.  I  had 
hardly,  towards  ten  o'clock,  reached  my 
comfortable  little  nest  where  the  sailor 
Schultes,  our  own  considerate  "cup- 
bearer," had  spread  on  my  miniature 
writing-desk  the  most  tempting  delica- 
a7 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-S02 

cies  of  preserves  and  fruit  together  with 
a  hottle  of  claret,  when  a  whistle 
sounded  in  the  speaking-tuhe  on  the 
wall  right  close  to  my  head: 

"Whee-e!"  it  shrieked,  high,  penetrat- 
ing and  alarming. 

I  jimiped  up,  pulled  out  the  stopper 
and  put  in  the  mouth-piece. 

"Hello!" 

"Two  points  from  starboard  a  white 
light!" 

I  grabbed  my  cap  and  gloves  and 
rushed  sternward  through  the  deck  of- 
ficer's room,  petty  officer's  room,  and 
crew-room,  each  one  narrower  than  the 
other. 

"Look  out,  the  commander!"  they 
shouted  to  one  another,  and  pulled  in 
their  legs  so  that  I  could  get  by. 

"Ouch!"  I  bumped  my  head  hard 
against  the  stand  of  an  electric  lamp.    I 


AN  EVENTFUL  NIGHT 

rubbed  the  sore  spot  as  I  hurried  ahead, 
while  I  took  an  oath  to  myself  that  the 
lamp  should  be  moved  at  the  first  pos- 
sible opportunity.  I  hurried  through 
the  "Centrale,"  up  the  narrow  stairway. 
Then  I  reached  my  place. 

"Where?" 

"There!"  Lieutenant  Groning,  who 
was  on  guard,  pointed  out.  "About 
three  points  starboard !" 

"It  is  a  steamer.  One  can  already 
see  the  red  side  lantern.  It  is  crossing 
our  course." 

I  put  my  binoculars  to  the  eye  and 
looked  for  many  seconds  for  the  light. 
The  officer  on  guard  was  right.  Besides 
the  white  lantern,  one  could  see  a  deep, 
red  light.  The  ship  therefore  was  trav- 
eling towards  the  left  and  would  cross 
our  course. 

A  narrow  strip  of  the  moon  had  ap- 
29 


,THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

peared  from  out  of  the  sea  and  was 
wrestling  with  the  darkness  of  the  night. 
The  result  was  not  much — ^the  strip  of 
the  moon  was  too  small  for  that — still 
it  was  not  so  dark  as  before. 

"Don't  let  it  come  too  close  to  us!"  I 
ordered.  "And  get  clear  in  right  time. 
We  must  not  under  any  circumstances 
be  seen  by  it,  because  then  they  would 
soon  know  in  England  from  which  di- 
rection to  expect  us.  Now  nearly  every 
steamer  has  a  wireless.'* 

Groning  changed  the  course  to  port 
until  he  had  the  steamer  completely  to 
the  left. 

"Too  bad,  we  can't  take  it  with  us," 
he  said. 

"Nb,  you  know,  for  a  night  attack 
this  is  not  the  right  place.     Here  so 
many  neutral  steamers  travel,  and  an 
error  can  easily  be  made." 
SO 


AN  EVENTFUL  NIGHT 

It  was  shortly  after  ten  o'clock. 
At  eleven-twenty,  twelve  forty,  one-ten, 
three-fifteen,  and  five  o'clock  I  again 
heard  the  whistling  "Whee-e!"  in  the 
speaking-tube  by  my  bunk.  Each  time 
I  had  to  jump  out  of  some  dream,  real- 
ize within  a  fraction  of  a  second  that 
my  presence  was  desired  up-stairs,  grab 
my  cap  and  gloves,  and  rush  through 
the  boat's  long  body  up  to  the  tower, 
not  without  several  times  bumping  into 
the  aforementioned  and  often  damned 
electric  lamp. 

After  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  I 
remained  on  deck,  because  dawn  would 
soon  break  with  its  treacherous  light. 
The  commander's  post  is  in  the  tower 
at  such  a  time  because,  just  as  easily 
as  one  perceives  in  the  pale  gray  light 
a  ship,  one  is  also  visible  from  the 
steamer,  which  could  cause  many  un- 
31 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

pleasant  surprises  if  the  two  ships  are 
not  very  cordial  towards  each  other — 
especially  disagreeable  to  us  because  a 
submarine  is,  as  our  name  indicates,  be- 
low the  water,  and  the  smallest  frag- 
ment of  a  shell  can  badly  damage  our 
heel  of  Achilles,  the  diving  machinery, 
so  that  we  would  be  unable  again  to 
get  into  a  position  of  safety  beneath  the 
surface. 

Shortly  before  six  o'clock  I  had  the 
entire  crew  at  the  diving  stations.  Each 
took  his  place,  ready  at  a  given  com- 
mand to  open  or  shut  the  valve,  crank, 
or  bolt  of  which  he  had  charge.  Only 
the  cook  had  no  special  duty  besides  his 
own.  He  remained  with  the  electric 
cooking  apparatus  provided  in  the  gal- 
ley and  had  no  other  job  besides  taking 
care  of  our  bodily  comfort.  Now  he 
was,  in  conformity  with  his  duty,  busy 
S2 


AN  EVENTFUL  NIGHT 

making  coffee  as  was  proper  at  that 
time  of  day. 

A  fine,  strong  smell  of  coffee  perco- 
lated through  the  whole  ship,  which 
proved  to  be  a  great  stimulant  to 
our  taut  nerves  and  our  empty  stom- 
achs. 

I  have  to  deviate  a  little  from  the  sub- 
ject  for  the  purpose  of  asking  if  my 
readers  understand  me.  Is  it  above  all 
plain,  explicit,  and  clear  why  I  give 
so  much  space  to  a  discussion  of  the 
nerves  when  I  speak  about  us,  U-boat 
men,  and  so  often  refer  to  them?  The 
nerves  are  in  time  of  peace  the  Alpha 
and  Omega  for  a  U-boat  officer.  How 
much  more  so  when  we  are  at  war !  The 
nerves  to  us  mean  power  to  act,  decision, 
strength,  will,  and  perseverance.  The 
nerves  are  valuable  and  to  keep  them  in 
good  condition  is  of  the  greatest  impor- 
33 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

tance  and  an  obligation  and  duty  dur- 
ing a  voyage. 

There  we  sit  hour  after  hour  in  the 
conning  tower.  Beneath  is  the  most 
complicated  mechanism  the  genius  of 
man  has  ever  created.  And  all  around 
there  are  the  most  craftily  constructed 
instruments  for  the  purpose  of  destroy- 
ing that  which  cost  so  much  labor  to 
create.  Mines,  nets,  explosives,  shells, 
and  sharp  keels  are  our  enemies,  which, 
at  any  moment,  may  send  us  high  in 
the  air  or  hundreds  of  meters  into  the 
ocean.  Everywhere  perils  lurk.  The 
whole  sea  is  a  powder  barrel. 

For  all  this  there  is  only  one  remedy 
— nerves! 

To  make  the  right  decision  at  the 

right  moment  is  the  first  and  last  of 

U-boat  science.     One  glance  must  be 

enough  to  determine  the  position.     In 

34 


AN  EVENTFUL  NIGHT 

the  same  second  a  decision  must  be 
made,  and  the  conmiands  carried  out, 
A  moment's  hesitation  may  be  fatal. 

I  can  give  an  example  of  this  on  the 
very  morning  I  speak  of. 

It  was  three  minutes  after  six  o'clock, 
and  within  about  half  an  hour  the  sun 
would  rise,  but  the  sea  and  the  sky  still 
floated  together  in  the  colorless  drab 
of  early  dawn  and  permitted  one  only 
to  imagine,  not  see,  that  partition  wall, 
the  horizon. 

Unceasingly  our  binoculars  pierced 
the  gray  dusk  of  daybreak.  Suddenly 
a  shiver  went  through  my  body  when — 
only  a  second  immovable  and  in  intense 
suspense — a  dark  shadow  within  range 
of  the  spy-glass  made  me  jump.  The 
shadow  grew  and  became  larger,  like  a 
giant  on  the  horizon — one  mast;  one, 
two,  three,  four  funnels — a  destroyer. 
35 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  V-W2 

A  quick  command — I  leap  down  into 
the  tower.  The  water  rushes  into  the 
diving  tanks.  The  conning  tower  cov- 
ers slam  tight  behind  me — and  the 
agony  which  follows  tries  our  patience, 
while  we  count  seconds  with  watches  in 
hand  until  the  tanks  are  filled,  and  the 
boat  slips  below  the  sea. 

Never  in  my  life  did  a  second  seem  so 
long  to  me.  The  destroyer,  which  is 
not  more  than  two  thousand  meters  dis- 
tant from  us,  has,  of  course,  seen  us, 
and  is  speeding  for  us  as  fast  as  her 
forty  thousand  horse  power  can  drive 
her.  From  the  guns  mounted  on  her 
bow  flash  one  shot  after  another  aimed 
to  destroy  us. 

Good  God!  If  he  only  does  not  hit! 
Just  one  little  hit,  and  we  are  lost!  Al- 
ready the  water  splashes  on  the  outside 
of  the  conning  tower  up  to  the  glass 
36 


AN  EVENTFUL  NIGHT 

windows  through  which  I  see  the  dark 
ghost,  streaking  straight  for  us.  It  is 
terrifying  to  hear  the  shells  bursting  all 
around  us  in  the  water.  It  sounds  like 
a  triphammer  against  a  steel  plate,  and 
closer  and  closer  come  the  metallic 
crashes.  The  rascal  is  getting  our 
range. 

There — the  fifth  shot — the  entire 
boat  trembles — then  the  deceitful  day- 
light disappears  from  the  conning 
tower  window.  The  boat  obeys  the  div- 
ing rudder  and  submerges  into  the  sea. 

A  reddish-yellow  light  shines  all 
around  us ;  the  indicator  of  the  manom- 
eter, which  measures  our  depth,  points 
to  eight  meters,  nine  meters,  ten  me- 
ters, twelve  meters.    Saved! 

What  a  happy,  unexplainable  sensa- 
tion to  know  that  you  are  hiding  deep  in 
the  infinite  ocean!  The  heart,  which 
37 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  V-W2 

liad  stopped  beating  during  these  long 
seconds  because  it  had  no  time  to  beat, 
again  begins  its  pounding. 

Our  boat  sinks  deeper  and  deeper.  It 
obeys,  as  does  a  faithful  horse  the  slight- 
est pressure  of  a  rider's  knees,  which, 
in  this  case,  are  the  diving  rudders 
placed  in  the  bow  and  the  stern.  The 
manometer  now  shows  twenty-four  me- 
ters, twenty-six  meters.  I  had  given  or- 
ders we  should  go  down  to  thirty  me- 
ters. 

Above  us  we  still  hear  the  roaring  and 
crackling  in  the  water,  as  if  it  were  in  an 
impotent  rage.  I  turn  and  smile  at  the 
mate  who  is  standing  with  me  in  the 
conning  tower — a  happy,  care-free 
smile.    I  point  upwards  with  my  thumb. 

"Do  you  hear  it  ?    Do  you  hear  it  ?" 

It  is  an  unnecessary  question,  of 
course,  because  he  hears  it  as  plainly  as 
S8 


AN  EVENTFUL  NIGHT 

I  do,  and  all  the  others  aboard  hear 
it,  too.  But  the  question  can  still  be  ex- 
plained because  of  the  tremendous  strain 
on  our  nerves  which  has  to  express  it- 
self even  in  such  a  simple  question. 

Dear,  true,  splendid  little  boat,  how 
one  learns  to  love  you  during  such  try- 
ing moments  and  would  like  to  pet  you 
like  a  living  human  being  for  your  un- 
derstanding and  obedience!  We,  here 
on  board,  all  depend  upon  you,  just  as 
we  all  depend  upon  one  another.  We 
are  chained  together.  We  will  face  the 
dangers  together  and  gain  success. 

You  blond  heroes  who  are  standing 
down  there  in  the  bowels  of  the  boat 
without  knowing  what  is  happening  up 
in  the  light,  but  still  knowing  that  the 
crucial  moment  has  arrived — that  life 
or  death  to  every  one  depends  on  one 
man's  will  and  one  man's  decision;  you 
39 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

who,  with  a  cahn  and  strong  feeling  of 
duty,  stick  at  your  posts  with  all  the 
strength  of  your  bodies  and  souls 
strained  to  the  breaking  point  and  still 
keep  full  faith  in  him  who  is  your  leader, 
chief,  and  commander;  you  show  the 
highest  degree  of  bravery  and  self-con- 
trol, you  who  never  have  a  chance  to  see 
the  enemy  but  still,  with  sustained  calm, 
do  your  duty. 

Not  a  word  was  uttered,  not  a  sound 
disturbed  that  deadly  stillness  on  board. 
One  almost  forgot  that  the  men  were 
standing  with  strained  nerves  at  their 
posts  in  order  to  keep  the  wonderful 
mechanism  running  right.  One  could 
hear  the  soft  whirr  of  the  dynamos  and, 
more  and  more  distant,  the  crackling  of 
the  exploding  shells.  Suddenly  even 
this  stopped.  The  Britisher  must  have 
noticed  that  the  fish  had  slipped  out  of 
40 


AN  EVENTFUL  NIGHT 

his  hand.  Shortly  thereafter  we  heard 
his  propellers  churning  the  water  above 
us.  Soon  this  noise  died  away  as  it  had 
come,  growing  fainter  and  fainter  in  a 
kind  of  grinding  whirr. 

"Did  you  hear  how  he  circled  around 
over  us  ?"  I  asked  through  the  speaking 
tube  which  led  down  into  the  "Cen- 
trale." 

"Certainly.  That  could  clearly  be 
distinguished,"  was  the  short  answer. 

I  was  pondering  over  what  to  do  next. 
At  first  we  had  no  choice  but  to  dive 
at  the  first  sight  of  the  destroyer  sud- 
denly appearing  with  the  break  of 
day. 

In  our  capacity  as  an  undersea  boat, 
we  were  now  in  a  position  to  fight  on 
equal  terms,  and  I  decided  to  risk  a 
bout  with  him  as  soon  as  it  became  light 
enough  for  me  to  see  through  the  peri- 
41 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

tscope.  The  intervening  time  I  made 
use  of  by  having  passed  up  to  me  in  the 
tower  the  long  desired  cup  of  morning 
coffee,  in  order  to  stop  the  tantalizing 
agony  which  the  smell  of  the  coffee  had 
caused  my  empty  stomach.  Thereupon 
we  slowly  climbed  upwards  from  our 
safe  breakfast  depth  of  thirty  meters. 
The  higher  we  came — one  can  read  on 
the  manometer  how  we  are  ascending 
meter  by  meter — the  greater  became  the 
excitement  and  tension.  Without 
breathing  we  listened. 

Slowly  the  boat  rose.  The  top  of  the 
periscope  would  soon  be  thrust  above 
the  surface.  My  hands  clasped  the 
handle  with  which  the  well-oiled,  and 
therefore  easily  movable,  periscope  can 
be  turned  around  as  quickly  as  light- 
ning, in  order  to  take  a  sweep  around 
the  horizon.  My  eye  was  pressed  to  the 
42 


AN  EVENTFUL  NIGHT 

sight,  and  soon  I  perceived  that  the 
water  was  getting  clearer  and  clearer 
by  degrees  and  more  transparent.  I 
could  now  follow  the  ascent  of  the  boat 
without  consulting  the  manometer. 

My  heart  was  pounding  with  the 
huntsman's  fervor,  in  expectation  of 
what  I  was  to  see  at  my  first  quick 
glance  around  the  horizon,  because  the 
destroyer,  which  we  sighted  only  a  quar- 
ter of  an  hour  before,  could  be  only  a 
scouting  ship.  It  might  belong  to  a 
detachment  of  naval  scouts  to  protect  a 
larger  ship.  In  my  thoughts  I  saw  the 
whole  eastern  horizon  full  of  proud 
ships  under  England's  flag  surrounded 
by  smoke. 

I  did  not  see  anything,  no  matter  how 

carefully  I  scanned  the  horizon.    All  I 

could  see  was  the  reddening  morning 

blush  spread  over  half  of  the  eastern 

43 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

sky,  the  last  stars  now  paling  and  the 
rising  sun  showing  its  first  beams. 

"For  heaven's  sake,  nobody  is  here," 
I  grumbled  to  myself. 

"Oh,  he'll  surely  come  back.  Cap- 
tain," said  my  mate  with  true  optimism. 
"The  prey  was  too  hot  for  him  to  tackle 
and  now  he  has  started  to  fetch  a  couple 
more  to  help  him." 

"It  would  certainly  be  less  desirable," 
put  in  Lieutenant  Groning,  who,  full  of 
expectations,  was  standing  halfway  up 
the  stairway  leading  from  the  tower  to 
the  "Centrale"  and  had  overheard  our 
talk.  "No,  it  would  be  less  desirable," 
he  repeated,  "because  then  comes  the 
entire  swarm  of  hostile  U-boats  with 
their  nets  cunningly  lined  with  mines. 
No  good  will  ever  come  of  that." 

"There  you  are  right,  Groning,"  I 
agreed.  "With  that  sort  of  a  nuisance, 
44 


AN  EVENTFUL  NIGHT 

equipped  as  they  are  with  so  many  ma- 
chines for  our  destruction,  it  would  be 
very  disagreeable  to  make  their  ac- 
quaintance. If  they  come,  it  is  best  to 
disappear.  It  is  not  worth  the  risk.  We 
have  many  more  important  duties  ahead 
of  us.  It  would  be  too  bad  to  spoil  a 
good  torpedo  on  such  trash." 

At  the  same  time,  I  decided  to  rise  so 
as  to  get  a  better  observation  through 
the  periscope  and  once  more  look 
around  the  horizon.  I  suddenly  ob- 
served in  the  northeast  a  peculiar,  dark 
cloud  of  smoke.  I,  therefore,  did  not 
give  any  orders  to  arise,  but  told  "Cen- 
trale"  by  a  few  short  commands  through 
the  speaking  tube  the  new  turn  of  affairs 
and,  with  added  speed,  went  to  meet 
the  smoke  cloud. 


45 


Ill 

THE  SINKING  OF  THE  TRANSPORT 

SOON  the  outlines  of  a  ship  told  us 
that  ahead  of  us  was  a  large 
steamer,  steaming  westward  at  high 
speed.  The  disappointment  which  we 
experienced  at  first  was  soon  reversed 
when  it  was  clearly  shown  that  the  for- 
tunes of  war  had  again  sent  a  ship 
across  our  course  which  belonged  to  a 
hostile  power. 

No  flag  could  be  seen — nor  was  it 
run  up.  Otherwise  we  would  have 
seen  it. 

"This  is  a  suspicious  circumstance," 
I  reasoned  with  myself. 
46 


THE  SINKING  OF  THE  TRANSPORT 

I  called  down  to  the  "Centrale"  all 
my  observations  through  the  periscope 
at  regular  intervals,  snapping  them  out 
in  the  same  sharp,  brief  style  that  the 
newsboys  use  in  calling  out  the  head- 
lines to  the  listening  public.  My  words 
were  passed  in  whispers  from  mouth  to 
mouth  until  all  hands  on  board  knew 
what  was  going  on  above  the  surface. 
Each  new  announcement  from  the  con- 
ning tower  caused  great  excitement 
among  the  crew,  listening  and  holding 
their  breath  and,  I  believe,  if  you  could 
measure  the  tension  on  human  nerves 
with  a  barometer,  it  would  have  regis- 
tered to  the  end  of  the  tube,  when,  like 
hammer  beats,  these  words  went  down 
tothe"Centrale": 

"The  steamer's  armed!  Take  a  look, 
mate." 

I  stepped  away  from  the  sights  of  the 
47 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

periscope.  "Can  you  see  the  gun 
mounted  forward  of  the  bridge?" 

"Yes,  certainly,"  he  replied  excitedly. 
"I  can  see  it,  and  quite  a  large  piece  it 
is,  too." 

"Now  take  a  look  at  her  stern — right 
by  the  second  mast — what  do  you  notice 
there?" 

"Thousand  devils!  Another  cannon 
— at  least  a  ten-centimeter  gun.  It's  a 
transport,  sure." 

"Drop  the  periscope!  Port  ten!"  I 
commanded. 

"Torpedo  tube  ready!"  reported 
the  torpedo  master  through  the  tube 
from  the  forward  torpedo  compart- 
ment. 

By  this  time  I  had  the  periscope  sub- 
merged so  that  we  were  completely  be- 
low the  surface  and  out  of  sight,  and  it 
would  be  impossible  to  discover  us  from 
48 


THE  SINKING  OF  THE  TRANSPORT 

the  steamer,  even  after  the  most  careful 
searching  of  the  horizon. 

"Advance  on  the  enemy!"  was  our 
determination. 

Oh,  what  a  glorious  sensation  is  a 
U-boat  attack!  What  a  great  under- 
standing and  cooperation  between  a 
U-boat  and  its  crew — between  dead 
matter  and  living  beings!  What  a 
merging  into  a  single  being,  of  the 
nerves  and  spirits  of  an  entire  crew! 

"Just  as  if  the  whole  boat  is  as  one 
being,"  was  the  thought  that  passed 
through  my  mind  when  I,  with  peri- 
scope down,  went  at  my  antagonist,  just 
like  a  great  crouching  cat  with  her  back 
bowed  and  her  hair  on  end,  ready  to 
spring.  The  eye  is  the  periscope,  the 
brain  the  conning  tower,  the  heart  the 
"Centrale,"  the  legs  the  engines,  and 
the  teeth  and  claws  the  torpedoes. 
49 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

Noiselessly  we  slipped  closer  and 
closer  in  our  exciting  chase.  The  main 
thing  was  that  our  periscope  should  not 
be  observed,  or  the  steamer  might 
change  her  course  at  the  last  moment 
and  escape  us.  Very  cautiously,  I 
stuck  just  the  tiff  of  the  periscope  above 
the  surface  at  intervals  of  a  few  min- 
utes, took  the  position  of  the  steamer  in 
a  second  and,  like  a  flash,  pulled  it  down 
again.  That  second  was  sufficient  for 
me  to  see  what  I  wanted  to  see.  The 
steamer  was  to  starboard  and  was  head- 
ing at  a  good  speed  across  our  bows.  To 
judge  from  the  foaming  waves  which 
were  cut  off  from  the  bow,  I  calculated 
that  her  speed  must  be  about  sixteen 
knots. 

The  hunter  knows  how  important  it  is 
to  have  a  knowledge  of  the  speed  at 
which  his  prey  is  moving.  He  can  cal- 
60 


THE  SINKING  OF  THE  TRANSPORT 

culate  the  speed  a  little  closer  when  it  is 
a  wounded  hare  than  when  it  is  one 
which  in  flight  rushes  past  at  high 
speed. 

It  was  only  necessary  for  me,  there- 
fore, to  calculate  the  speed  of  the  ship 
for  which  a  sailor  has  an  experienced 
eye.  I  then  plotted  the  exact  angle  we 
needed.  I  measured  this  by  a  scale 
which  had  been  placed  above  the  sights 
of  the  periscope.  Now  I  only  had  to 
let  the  steamer  come  along  until  it  had 
reached  the  zero  point  on  the  periscope 
and  fire  the  torpedo,  which  then  must 
strike  its  mark. 

You  see,  it  is  very  plain;  I  estimate 
the  speed  of  the  boat,  aim  with  the  peri- 
scope and  fire  at  the  right  moment. 

He  who  wishes  to  know  about  this  or 
anything  else  in  this  connection  should 
join  the  navy,  or  if  he  is  not  able  to  do 
51 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

SO,    send    us    his    son    or   brother   or 
nephew. 

On  the  occasion  in  question  every- 
thing went  as  calculated.  The  steamer 
could  not  see  our  cautious  and  hardly- 
shown  periscope  and  continued  uncon- 
cerned on  its  course.  The  diving  rudder 
in  the  "Centrale"  worked  well  and 
greatly  facilitated  my  unobserved  ap- 
proach. I  could  clearly  distinguish  the 
various  objects  on  board,  and  saw  the 
giant  steamer  at  a  very  short  distance 
— ^how  the  captain  was  walking  back 
and  forth  on  the  bridge  with  a  short 
pipe  in  his  mouth,  how  the  crew  was 
scrubbing  the  forward  deck.  I  saw  with 
amazement — a  shiver  went  through  me 
— a  long  line  of  compartments  of  wood 
spread  over  the  entire  deck,  out  of 
which  were  sticking  black  and  brown 
horse  heads  and  necks. 
52 


THE  SINKING  OF  THE  TRANSPORT 

Oh,  great  Scott!  Horses!  What  a 
pity !    Splendid  animals ! 

"What  has  that  to  do  with  it?"  I  con- 
tinually thought.  War  is  war.  And 
every  horse  less  on  the  western  front  is 
to  lessen  England's  defense.  I  have  to 
admit,  however,  that  the  thought  which 
had  to  come  was  disgusting,  and  I  wish 
to  make  the  story  about  it  short. 

Only  a  few  degrees  were  lacking  for 
the  desired  angle,  and  soon  the  steamer 
would  get  into  the  correct  focus.  It  was 
passing  us  at  the  right  distance,  a  few 
hundred  meters. 

"Torpedo  ready!"  I  called  down  into 
the  "Centrale." 

It  was  the  longed-for  command. 
Every  one  on  board  held  his  breath. 
Now  the  steamer's  bow  cut  the  line  in 
the  periscope — ^now  the  deck,  the  bridge, 
the  foremast — the  funnel. 
53 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

"Let  go!" 

A  light  trembling  shook  the  boat — ^ 
the  torpedo  was  on  its  way.  Woe,  when 
it  was  let  loose ! 

There  it  was  speeding,  the  murderous 
projectile,  with  an  insane  speed  straight 
at  its  prey.  I  could  accurately  follow 
its  path  by  the  light  wake  it  left  in  the 
water. 

"Twenty  seconds,"  counted  the  mate 
whose  duty  it  was,  with  watch  in  hand, 
to  calculate  the  exact  time  elapsed  after 
the  torpedo  was  fired  until  it  exploded. 

"Twenty-two  seconds !" 

Now  it  must  happen — ^the  terrible 
thing! 

I  saw  the  ship's  people  on  the  bridge 
had  discovered  the  wake  which  the  tor- 
pedo was  leaving,  a  slender  stripe.  How 
they  pointed  with  their  fingers  out 
across  the  sea  in  terror;  how  the  cap- 
54 


THE  SINKING  OF  THE  TRANSPORT 

tain,  covering  his  face  with  his  bands, 
resigned  himself  to  what  must  come. 
And  next  there  was  a  terrific  shaking 
so  that  all  aboard  the  steamer  were 
tossed  about  and  then,  like  a  volcano, 
arose,  majestic  but  fearful  in  its  beauty, 
a  two-hundred  meter  high  and  fifty- 
meter  wide  pillar  of  water  toward  the 
sky. 

"A  full  hit  behind  the  second  fun- 
nel!" I  called  down  into  the  "Centrale." 
Then  they  cut  loose  down  there  for  joy. 
They  were  carried  away  by  ecstasy 
which  welled  out  of  their  hearts,  a  joy- 
ous storm  that  ran  through  our  entire 
boat  and  up  to  me. 

And  over  there? 

Landlubber,  steel  thy  heart  I 

A  terrible  drama  was  being  enacted 
on  the  hard-hit  sinking  ship.    It  listed 
and  sank  towards  us. 
55 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

From  the  tower  I  could  observe  all 
the  decks.  From  all  the  hatches  human 
beings  forced  their  way  out,  fighting 
despairingly.  Russian  firemen,  officers, 
sailors,  soldiers,  hostlers,  the  kitchen 
crew,  all  were  running  and  calling  for 
the  boats.  Panic  stricken,  they  thronged 
about  one  another  down  the  stairways, 
fighting  for  the  life-boats,  and  among 
all  were  the  rearing,  snorting  and  kick- 
ing horses.  The  boats  on  the  starboard 
deck  could  not  be  put  into  service,  as 
they  could  not  be  swung  clear  because 
of  the  list  of  the  careening  steamer.  All, 
therefore,  thronged  to  the  boats  on  the 
port  side,  which,  in  the  haste  and  an- 
^ish,  were  lowered,  some  half  empty; 
others  overcrowded.  Those  who  were 
left  aboard  were  wringing  their  hands 
in  despair.  They  ran  from  bow  to  stern 
and  back  again  from  stern  to  bow  in 
56 


THE  SINKING  OF  THE  TRANSPORT 

their  terror,  and  then  finally  threw 
themselves  into  the  sea  in  order  to  at- 
tempt to  swim  to  the  boats. 

Then  another  explosion  resounded, 
after  which  a  hissing  white  wave  of 
steam  streamed  out  of  all  the  ports. 
The  hot  steam  set  the  horses  crazy,  and 
they  were  beside  themselves  with  ter- 
ror— I  could  see  a  splendid,  dapple- 
gray  horse  with  a  long  tail  make  a  great 
leap  over  the  ship's  side  and  land  in  a 
lifeboat,  already  overcrowded — ^but 
after  that  I  could  not  endure  the  ter- 
rible spectacle  any  longer.  Pulling 
down  the  periscope,  we  submerged  into 
the  deep. 

When,  after  some  time,  I  came  again 
to  the  surface  there  was  nothing  more 
to  be  seen  of  the  great,  proud  steamer. 
Among  the  wreckage  and  corpses  of 
the  horses  three  boats  were  floating  and 
57 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

occasionally  fished  out  a  man  still  swim- 
ming in  the  sea.  Now  I  came  up  on 
the  surface  in  order  to  assist  the  victims 
of  the  wrecked  ship.  When  our  boat's 
mighty,  whale-like  hull  suddenly  arose 
out  of  the  water,  right  in  their  midst,  a 
panic  seized  them  again  and  quickly 
they  grasped  their  oars  in  order  to  try 
to  flee.  Not  until  I  waved  from  the 
tower  to  them  with  my  handkerchief 
and  cap  did  they  rest  on  their  oars  and 
come  over  to  us.  The  state  in  which 
some  of  them  were  was  exceedingly  piti- 
ful. Several  wore  only  white  cotton 
trousers  and  had  handkerchiefs  wrapped 
around  their  necks.  The  fixed  provi- 
sions which  each  boat  was  required  to 
carry  were  not  sufficient  when  the  boat's 
crew  was  doubled  and  trebled. 

While  I  was  conferring  with  our  mess 
officer  as  to  what  we  could  possibly  dis- 
68 


THE  SINKING  OF  THE  TRANSPORT 

pense  with  of  our  own  provisions  we 
noticed  to  the  north  and  west  some 
clouds  of  smoke  which,  to  judge  from 
the  signs,  were  coming  towards  us 
quickly.  Immediately  a  thought  flashed 
through  my  head : 

"Now  they  are  looking  for  you.  Now 
comes  the  whole  swarm." 

Already  the  typical  masts  of  the 
British  destroyers  and  trawlers  arose 
above  the  horizon.  We,  therefore,  did 
not  have  a  minute  to  lose  in  order  to 
escape  these  hostile  and  most  dangerous 
enemies.  I  made  my  decision  quickly 
and  called  to  the  captain  of  the  sunken 
steamer  that  he  could  let  one  of  the 
oncoming  ships  pick  them  up  as  I  could 
not  spare  the  time,  but  had  to  go  "north- 
east." Then  I  submerged — right  in 
front  of  the  boats  full  of  survivors. 
They  saw  me  head  north  and  I  steered 
59 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

in  that  direction  for  a  time.  Then  I 
pulled  down  the  periscope  and,  with- 
out being  noticed,  changed  my  course 
to  the  south. 

When  I,  after  a  considerable  time, 
again  cautiously  looked  around,  I  per- 
ceived to  my  amazement  that  an  entire 
scout  fleet  in  a  wide  circle  was  heading 
towards  us  from  the  south  also.  From 
three  sides  the  enemy  spurred  his  blood- 
hounds on  us,  and  I  thought  to  myself 
it  would  not  take  long  before,  by  ex- 
tending their  wings,  they  would  encircle 
us  completely,  and  the  great  chase 
would  begin.  The  thought  was  not 
cheerful,  particularly  as  the  depths  in 
this  part  of  the  ocean  were  not  suf- 
ficient so  that  we  could,  by  submerging 
deeply,  guard  ourselves  against  the 
dangers  of  grappling  hooks,  nets  and 
mines. 

60 


THE  SINKING  OF  THE  TRANSPORT 

"The  wildcat  has  become  a  hare,"  I 
thought  to  myself  and,  at  the  same  time, 
I  decided  what  to  do. 

We  had  to  do  as  the  old  hare.  First, 
with  eyes  open,  we  would  cautiously 
jump  forth,  use  all  possible  covers,  and 
search  for  the  spot  where  the  gunners 
were  fewest,  and  then  with  eyes  shut 
and  at  the  highest  possible  speed  break 
through  the  widest  gap. 

Consequently,  we  began  to  travel 
toward  the  east  where  the  "atmosphere 
was  still  clear."  Occasionally  I  stuck 
up  my  periscope  and  perceived  how  the 
surrounding  circle  was  knit  tighter  and 
tighter.  Now,  after  I  had  made  up  my 
mind,  I  became  completely  calm  and 
carefully  considered  all  the  conditions 
for  and  against  us.  The  swarm  of  de- 
stroyers moved  toward  the  center,  as 
in  a  regular  chase,  as  soon  as  the  circle 
61 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

was  complete.  Between  every  couple  of 
hunters — I  mean  trawlers — ^there  were 
nets  stretched  across  to  catch  a  little 
submarine,  and  behind  these  were 
dragged  mines. 

By  extending  one  of  the  wings  in  the 
north,  it  made  a  gap  toward  the  east, 
and  besides  I  saw  that  one  of  the  tor- 
pedo boats  between  two  groups  of  the 
searching  parties  had  left  for  the  ship- 
wrecked survivors.  At  this  point,  con- 
sequently, was  our  best  chance  to  escape. 
I  laid  my  course  between  the  two 
searching  parties,  of  course,  with  the 
periscope,  during  the  whole  time,  nearly 
invisible. 

Slowly  the  ranks  of  the  hunting 
hounds  approached,  smoking  copiously 
and  snorting.  Now  the  right  moment 
had  arrived  to  follow  the  other  part  of 
the  hare's  program.  We  shut  our 
6« 


THE  SINKING  OF  THE  TRANSPORT 

eyes — that  is,  I  pulled  the  periscope 
down  completely — and  proceeded  with 
increased  speed,  submerging  in  the  sea 
as  deeply  as  possible. 

I  can  well  imagine  how  the  old  hare 
felt  when  he  ran  blindly  for  his  life. 
Undoubtedly  our  feelings  were  some- 
what the  same.  How  easily  could  not 
that  little  gap  toward  which  we  were 
making  be  closed  by  some  small  auxil- 
iary of  the  searchers. 

And,  if  the  grappling  hooks  from 
one  of  these  got  hold  of  us,  there  would 
be  little  hope  of  escape,  or  of  saving 
ourselves.  Then  they  would  tear  at  us 
from  all  directions  and  give  us  the  stab 
that  would  send  us  deep  down  into  the 
sea  for  good.  No  one  on  board  sus- 
pected what  danger  we  went  to  meet. 
I  had  kept  all  my  observations  concern- 
ing the  enemy's  surrounding  us  to  my- 
63 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

self  and  had  not  mentioned  it,  so  as  not 
to  excite  everybody's  mind.  No  one 
below  could  at  any  rate  do  anything  to 
change  the  conditions. 

Then  from  the  bow  compartment 
came  the  report: 

"The  beating  of  propellers  is  dis- 
cernible to  port !" 

Shortly  thereafter  I  could  hear  them, 
even  from  the  conning  tower — a  soft, 
slow,  swelling,  and  grinding  sound. 
This  was  not  the  sound  of  the  pro- 
pellers of  a  destroyer.  Such  would  beat 
faster,  clearer,  and  more  powerfully. 
This  was  the  heavily-dragging  trawlers' 
slow  beating  propellers. 

Strainingly  I  listened  to  starboard — 
nothing  could  be  heard.  That  was  a 
good  sign,  because  I  could  hope  that  in 
reality  I  had  reached  the  gap  and  that 
the  sounds  of  the  propellers  which  we 
64< 


THE  SINKING  OF  THE  TRANSPORT 

heard  to  port  emanated  from  the 
trawler  on  the  left  side  of  the  gap.  I 
was  just  about,  from  my  innermost 
heart,  to  let  out  a  joyous  "hurrah," 
when,  from  the  bow  of  the  boat,  I  heard 
a  new  sound  which  approached  with  a 
clear,  sharp  banging.  It  was  the  tor- 
pedo-boat, the  beast!  Was  the  rascal 
going  to  come  back  at  the  crucial 
moment  ? 

It  required  only  a  few  seconds  for 
the  torpedo-boat  to  pass  over  us,  but 
those  seemed  as  hours.  At  every  blink- 
ing of  the  eye  I  imagined  I  heard  some- 
thing explode,  turn  against  or  drag 
alongside  my  boat.  But  fortune  was 
ours.  The  sharp,  grinding  sound  of  the 
swift  torpedo-boat  propellers  became 
fainter  and  fainter  and,  at  last,  ceased 
entirely.  Unconsciously  I  straightened 
up  a  little  in  the  tower,  whistled  a  few 
66 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

notes  from  "Dockan,"  and  tapped,  as  if 
nothing  had  happened,  with  the  knuckle 
of  my  forefinger  on  the  glass  of  the 
manometer.  What  did  the  manometer 
register?  Nothing  whatsoever  had  hap- 
pened. Everything  was  in  the  best  con- 
dition. The  depth  coincided.  The  div- 
ing rudder  was  lying  normal.  Before 
me  stood  Tuczynski,  my  faithful  helms- 
man and  orderly,  at  former  times  skip- 
per on  the  Weichsel  and  Nogat;  behind 
me,  the  mate  leaned  against  the  wall  of 
the  conning  tower  contentedly  and 
yawned. 

I  diiddenly  felt  an  unresistible  crav- 
ing for  a  cigarette.  The  nerves  needed 
some  stimulation.  For  about  ten  min- 
utes I  controlled  myself.  Then  I  arose 
to  a  periscope  distance  from  the  surface 
and  took  a  look  around  to  see  how 
things  were  going.  What  I  saw  filled 
66 


THE  SINKING  OF  THE  TRANSPORT 

my  heart  with  joy.  The  whole  swarm 
of  British  destroyers  and  trawlers  had 
moved  toward  the  southwest  and  were 
eagerly  searching  in  a  long  line.  As 
we  were  proceeding  in  an  opposite  di- 
rection we  quickly  left  them.  After 
about  l^ve  more  minutes  I  would  dare 
to  come  to  the  surface.  To  the  north 
the  way  was  clear. 

Soon  I  was  sitting,  in  the  best  of 
spirits,  up  in  the  conning  tower,  greedily 
inhaling  with  both  lungs  the  fine,  re- 
freshing sea  air  and,  mixed  with  it,  the 
long  puffs  of  the  cigarette. 


67 


IV 

RICH  SPOILS 

LATE  in  the  afternoon  of  the  same 
day  we  broke  into  a  peacefully 
working  fishing  flotilla  just  like  a  wolf 
into  a  flock  of  sheep.  In  order  to  be 
sure  no  shepherd  with  his  dog  was 
guarding  them  we,  keeping  ourselves 
submerged,  carefully  examined  each 
ship.  I  could  not  see  a  gun  or  anything 
suspicious  anywhere. 

All  were  peacefully  occupied  at  their 
casting  nets,  fishing.  There  were  seven 
fishing  steamers  and  nine  sailing  ships, 
which  were  scattered  over  a  distance  of 
about  three  miles.  The  weather  was 
68 


RICH  SPOILS 

glorious,  even  better  than  the  day  be- 
fore. The  sun  smiled  from  a  steel  blue 
sky  and  danced  in  golden  stripes  on  the 
bright,  calm  surface  of  the  sea.  A  gen- 
tle northerly  swell  rocked  the  fishing 
boats  back  and  forth,  so  that  the  gaffs 
and  the  frames  on  which  the  extra  nets 
had  been  stretched  to  dry  were  swing- 
ing and  banging. 

Countless  numbers  of  sea  gulls  were 
flying  about  close  to  the  flotilla.  With 
shrill  cries  and  in  thick  flocks,  they 
swooped  down  on  the  sterns  of  some 
isolated  boats,  and  hurled  themselves, 
gliding  on  their  wings,  into  the  refuse 
of  the  last  catch  which  the  fishermen 
were  throwing  overboard. 

The  horizon  stood  out  visibly  from 

the  sea  all  around  and  seemed  to  be  a 

great  shining,  glittering  ring.     Not  a 

speck  of  cloud  spotted  its  bright  edges. 

69 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  JJ-W2 

Nothing  was  visible  except  our  fisher- 
men. 

Hurrah,  this  was  just  the  weather  for 
us!  A  rare  and  favorable  opportunity- 
had  presented  itself  here  to  play  a  trick 
on  the  English  fish  market. 

As  a  ghost,  I  suddenly  arose  behind 
one  of  the  fishing  steamers,  pushed  the 
conning  tower  hatch  up,  and  jumped 
up  on  the  tower,  holding  the  flag  of  war 
in  one  hand  and  the  megaphone  in  the 
other. 

"Halloo-o-o!" 

The  fishermen  stared  at  us  open 
mouthed,  rooted  to  the  spot  as  if  para- 
lyzed by  fear  of  us. 

"Halloo-o-o-o,  Captain!"  I  shouted 
for  the  second  time.  "I  want  to  talk 
to  you." 

After  some  time  a  figure  emerged 
from  the  crowd,  stepped  up  the  stair- 
70 


RICH  SPOILS 

way,  and  shouted  some  words  that 
were  not  very  clear  but  which  sounded 
like: 

"Here  I  am!" 

I  summoned  my  best  English  and 
told  the  red-nosed  chap  that  I  v.  3uld 
have  to  sink  before  sundown  the  whole 
fleet  of  fishing  boats,  and  furthermore 
I  told  him  that  I  had  selected  him  to 
take  the  crews  of  all  the  others  aboard 
his  steamer.  I  added  he  must  immedi- 
ately cut  his  nets  and  follow  me  at  a 
distance  of  five  hundred  meters,  and 
that  I  would  promptly  blow  him  to 
pieces  if  he,  of  his  own  accord,  attempt- 
ed to  diminish  this  distance  as  I  would 
then  surely  believe  he  intended  to  ram 
me. 

The  captain  declared  he  was  willing 
to  obey  my  commands,  cut  the  nets,  and 
followed  me.  I  ordered  full  speed  ahead 
71 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U 

and  hoisted  to  the  mast  the  following 
signal : 

"Leave  the  boat  immediately!" 

Then  I  rushed  in  among  the  excited 
swarm.  With  flashing  eyes,  the  sailors 
were  standing  by  our  guns  and  waiting, 
lovingly  fondling  the  shells,  ready  to 
begin  firing. 

First  we  went  right  through  the 
crowd  of  fishing-boats  and  then  along 
the  edges  of  the  fleet,  in  order  to  pre- 
vent the  escape  of  the  steamers  fur- 
thest away.  Nowhere  did  we  take  the 
time  to  stop  to  sink  a  ship,  but  only 
drove  the  crews  away  from  their  boats. 
Then  the  prey  could  not  get  away 
from  us. 

How  promptly  the  fishermen  alighted 
because  of  the  fear  of  our  shells !  They 
scrambled  aboard  the  one  steamer  se- 
lected to  save  them  in  such  a  rush  it 
72 


RICH  SPOILS 

looked  like  a  panicky  flight.  Soon  cut- 
ters and  rowboats  were  swarming  all 
around  us  and  speedily  the  steamer  se- 
lected to  save  the  crews  was  crowded. 

But  even  during  such  an  exciting  oc- 
cupation we  did  not  neglect  to  keep  a 
sharp  lookout,  for  under  no  circum- 
stances were  we  to  be  taken  by  surprise 
when  at  this  work.  But  it  was  easy  to 
look  out  over  a  great  distance.  The 
horizon  was  free  and  clear. 

As  soon  as  the  fishermen  were  safe 
aboard  the  steamer,  we  began  the  sink- 
ing of  the  ships  and  went  from  ship  to 
ship,  stopped  at  a  distance  of  a  hun- 
dred meters,  and  sent  solid,  well-aimed 
shots  at  their  water  lines  until  they  had 
had  enough  and  began  to  sink.  Many 
went  down  with  the  first  shot.  Others 
were  tougher  and  required  four.  For 
the  gun  crew  this  was  great  sport.  They 
73 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

took  turns  and  each  jealously  counted 
the  number  of  shots  required  for  his 
"fisherman." 

When  the  steamers  were  "fixed,"  we 
went  to  the  sailing  boats,  which,  in  ac- 
cordance with  their  inveterate  custom, 
were  lying  huddled  together.  The 
sailors  generally  needed  only  one  shot 
— then  they  capsized  and  sank  into  the 
sea  with  a  death  gurgle.  It  was  a 
touching  scene  which,  in  spite  of  our 
inner  joy,  was  hard  on  our  nerves,  as 
every  true  sailor  regards  the  sailing- 
ship  as  a  remnant  of  romance,  dying  out 
faster  and  faster  in  these  days. 

This  was  truly  the  reason  why  now 
and  at  other  times  our  hearts  ached  for 
each  sailing  ship  which  we  had  to  sink. 
The  surface  was  covered  with  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  dead  fish  which  were 
scattered  over  the  sea.  To  countless  sea 
74 


RICH  SPOILS 

gulls  it  was  a  highly  welcome  call  to 
dinner,  which  they  eagerly  accepted, 
gorging  themselves  and  filling  them- 
selves so  that  their  feathers  stood 
straight  out  from  their  bodies. 

We  had  already  sent  thirteen  ships 
to  the  bottom,  only  two  sailing-ships  re- 
maining besides  the  rescue  steamer.  As 
the  opportunity  was  a  rare  one,  I  per- 
mitted the  firemen  and  men  from  the 
engine  room  to  come  up  on  deck  so  that 
they  could  see  with  their  own  eyes  a 
ship  go  down.  I  enjoyed  hearing  their 
funny  remarks  and  to  watch  how,  in 
their  childish  joy,  they  enthusiastically 
greeted  each  new  shot.  I  was  glad  to 
see  the  bright  color  the  fresh  air  and 
excitement  brought  to  their  pale  faces. 
Groning  stepped  up  to  me  and  said 
thoughtfully : 

"What  will  happen  if  the  steamer 
75 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

goes  to  England  and  tells  our  position? 
Following  the  events  of  yesterday  after- 
noon, this  morning  and  now,  the  Eng- 
lish can  easily  figure  out  our  course." 

"By  Jove,  you  are  right  there!  I 
had  not  happened  to  think  of  that.  It 
is  indeed  true  that  one  gets  duller  as 
the  years  go  by.  That  must  be  pre- 
vented under  all  circumstances,  espe- 
cially on  account  of  to-morrow.  You 
know  what  then — don't  you?" 

Groning  nodded. 

"Yes,  to-morrow  we'll  have  a  trying 
day,"  I  continued,  "and,  if  we  are  go- 
ing to  succeed,  we  can't  make  conditions 

any  harder  for  ourselves." 

I  was  pondering  the  question  of  how 

we  were  going  to  avoid  the  danger  of 

being  betrayed  by  the  fishermen  without 

endangering  their  lives,  which  I  did  not 

want  to  do.    I  thought  this  over  for  a 

76 


RICH  SPOILS 

moment.  Suddenly  I  struck  my  fore- 
head with  my  hand  and  laughed. 

"So  stupidly  foolish!  One  is  never 
able  to  think  of  the  simplest  way!"  I 
said.  "We'll  simply  shift  the  entire 
crowd  to  one  of  the  sailing-ships.  With 
this  light  breeze,  it  will  take  them  at 
least  three  days  to  reach  the  coast  and, 
after  that,  it  does  not  matter.  It  will  be 
a  little  crowded  for  so  many  people,  but 
that  can't  be  helped." 

"And  the  provisions?"  Groning 
asked.  "What  are  they  going  to  live 
on?" 

"That's  simple,"  I  answered.  "First 
of  all  they  can  take  off  all  the  pro- 
visions from  the  steamer  and,  besides 
that,  they  have  all  the  fish  in  the  sail- 
ing-ship." 

I  sank  the  smaller  of  the  two  sail- 
boats and  then  approached  the  steamer 
77 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  V-202 

which  had  taken  aboard  the  crews  from 
the  other  boats. 

The  captain  of  the  steamer  was  bit- 
terly disappointed,  of  course,  when  I 
brought  him  word  that  all  hands  would 
have  to  go  to  the  sailboat.  He  had  been 
so  delighted  to  be  the  one  chosen  to  keep 
his  steamer.  On  the  other  hand,  to  the 
captain  of  the  sailing-ship,  the  message 
that  he  could  go  back  to  his  old,  faithful 
smack  came  as  a  gift  from  heaven. 

Yes,  indeed,  joy  and  sorrow  lie  close 
together  and  go  hand  in  hand. 

After  a  short  half  hour  the  shift  was 
made,  and  the  steamer  also  went  down 
into  the  deep — the  fifteenth  ship  within 
two  hours.  First  the  skipper  carefully 
hauled  up  his  nets  and  then  with  flap- 
ping sails  slowly  swung  around  and  laid 
his  course  toward  the  west. 

During  the  night  we  dropped  down 
•    78 


RICH  SPOILS 

to  the  bottom  of  the  ocean  at  X . 

We  wanted  to  get  some  rest  for  one 
night  and  gather  strength  for  the  next 
day.  It  is  comfortable  to  lie  in  the  soft 
sands  of  the  North  Sea.  It  is  as  if  the 
whole  boat  went  to  bed.  One  thing 
necessary  for  this  comfort  was  a  calm 
surface,  because  a  heavy  sea  is  felt  at  a 
great  depth  and  throws  and  bangs  the 
boat  back  and  forth  on  the  bottom. 

Slowly  the  boat  slipped  deeper  and 
deeper.  We  had  taken  soundings  be- 
fore submerging.  The  nearer  we  came 
to  the  bottom  the  slower  the  dynamo 
motors  worked,  and  I  at  last  stopped 
them  entirely  when  we  were  a  few 
meters  from  the  bottom.  As  soon  as  we 
had  stopped  sinking,  which  could  be 
told  by  the  fact  the  diving  rudder  was 
no  longer  working,  a  few  liters  of  water 
were  pumped  into  a  ballast  tank  made 
79 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

for  just  this  purpose.  The  boat  became 
heavier  and  slowly  sunk  further. 

"Now,  we'll  soon  strike,"  I  called 
down  to  the  "Centrale"  and  looked  at 
the  manometer. 

Hardly  had  the  words  left  my  lips 
when  we  felt  a  very  gentle  shock — ^much 
weaker  than  when  a  train  stops — and 
knew  we  were  at  the  bottom.  Some 
more  water  was  pumped  into  the  ballast 
tanks  in  order  to  make  the  boat  steadier 
and  then  each  one  at  his  post  carefully 
examined  scuttles  and  hatchways  so 
that  not  a  drop  of  water  could  leak 
through  to  us.  From  bow  to  stern  it 
was  reported : 

"All  is  tight  r 

Thereafter  orders  were  given  for  the 
necessary  guards,  and  then  I  let  the 
crew  leave  their  posts : 

"All  hands  to  be  free  to-night!" 
80 


RICH  SPOILS 

Until  to-morrow  on  the  bottom  of  the 
ocean!  No  other  restfulness  can  be 
compared  with  it.  Rest  after  so  much 
excitement  which  has  stirred  the  emo- 
tions of  us  all ;  after  such  a  day's  work, 
is  it  possible  that  any  one  can  appre- 
ciate how  we  enjoyed  ourselves? 

We  did  not  care  that  we  were  not  in 
port  and  that  a  mountain  of  ocean  was 
over  our  heads.  We  felt  as  secure  as 
if  we  had  been  at  the  safest  spot  in  the 
world.  From  their  posts  the  crew  went 
past  us,  with  pale,  oily,  and  dirty  faces, 
but  with  their  eyes  looking  at  me  as 
they  went  by,  proud,  happy,  radiant, 
so  that  my  heart  rejoiced. 

There  was  some  excitement  among 
the  crew.  Every  one  washed,  talked 
and  laughed  so  that  it  was  evident  how 
happy  and  care-free  they  felt. 

"Well,  with  what  will  you  treat  us 
81 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

to-day?"  I  asked  the  cook  who,  with 
great  self-confidence — because  he  was 
an  expert  in  his  line — was  standing  be- 
fore his  little  galley  and  stirring  a 
steaming  pot.  "That  smells  wonder- 
fully appetizing." 

"Ox  goulash  and  salt  potatoes,"  an- 
swered the  cook  and  with  more  eager- 
ness stirred  his  pot.  "It  soon  will  be 
ready.  It'll  not  take  more  than  five 
minutes." 

"Then  I  must  hurry  up,"  I  replied, 
and  went  to  my  small  cabin,  where  I 
had  not  put  foot  since  five  o'clock  in 
the  morning. 

I  put  my  cap,  long  scarf  and  oil-skin 
jacket  on  a  hook,  stretched  myself  in 
weary  delight  and  washed  myself  ener- 
getically. This  is  a  rare  pleasure  on  a 
trip  like  ours.  From  the  nearby  room 
the  happy  talk  of  the  officers  reached 
82 


RICH  SPOILS 

my  ears.  I  then  heard  a  rattle  of  plates 
and  forks,  a  cork  popped  from  a  bottle, 
and  Groning  opened  the  little  door  that 
separates  my  cabin  from  the  room  of  the 
other  officers. 

"Herr  Captain,  dinner  is  ready,"  he 
said. 

Soon  we  were  sitting,  four  men  in  all, 
at  a  little,  nicely  decorated  table,  cutting 
into  the  steaming  platter  and  drinking 
out  of  small  seidels  a  magnificent 
sparkling  wine.  The  past  day's  events 
had  to  be  moistened  a  little  with  the 
best  we  had.  This  was  our  custom  when 
the  fortunes  of  war  smiled  graciously 
on  us. 

The  electrical  heating  apparatus  fur- 
nishes all  the  heat  needed,  but  it  still 
has  the  disadvantage  that  in  the  still, 
unchanged  air,  the  heat  arises  so  that 
the  temperature  at  the  floor  is  several 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

degrees  colder  than  at  the  ceiling.  Even 
in  our  heavy  sea-boots,  we  felt  it  a  little, 
although,  as  a  whole,  we  were  warm  and 
contented.  The  phonograph  played 
continuously.  The  petty  officers  had 
taken  charge  of  it  and  played  one  native 
song  after  another.  What  a  thrill  ran 
through  me !  At  once  there  was  silence. 
All  talk  stopped.  German  songs  of 
the  Fatherland  were  sung  deep  down 
at  the  bottom  of  the  ocean  right  on 
England's  coast.  Inspired  by  the  mu- 
sic, our  hearts  were  filled  with  enthusi- 
asm and  a  silent  promise  was  made  to 
give  everything  for  the  Fatherland — to 
become  a  scourge  to  the  enemy  and 
damage  him  with  all  our  might. 

Thereafter,  the  dance  music,  oper- 
ettas,  vaudeville   songs,    and   ragtime 
were  played.    These  stirred  up  a  buoy- 
ant spirit.    Especially  there  was  much 
84f 


RICH  SPOILS 

joy  among  the  firemen  and  sailors  in 
the  crew's  quarters.  Funny  songs  could 
be  heard  from  that  direction.  Dirty 
playing  cards  were  dug  out  and  soon 
there  was  a  real  German  skat  game  in 
full  swing. 

During  this  time  we,  in  the  officers' 
mess,  raised  our  glasses  and  drank 
toasts  to  one  another  and  to  the  beau- 
tiful U-boat:  "Rich  spoils!  A  happy 
j  ourney  home !  Long  live  the  U-boat  I" 
That  is  the  U-boat  toast. 

The  boat  was  lying  very  still.  It 
didn't  seem  to  stir. 

"What  an  original  idea  for  an  artist  1" 
said  our  engineer,  who  was  poetically 
inclined,  as  he  leaned  back  in  his  chair 
staring  thoughtfully  at  the  ceiling. 
"One  can  imagine  a  cross  section  of  the 
boat  showing  our  room  at  the  North 
Sea's  yellowish  sand  bottom,  to  which 
85 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  \J-W2 

all  kinds  of  crawling  and  swimming  ani- 
mals give  life.  In  here  four  feasting, 
happy  officers  around  a  little  table  on 
which  a  warm  electric  light  is  shining 
with  the  wine  bottle  in  the  center  and 
with  the  glasses  raised  to  a  solemn  toast. 
Above — ^water,  water,  water — ^water  to 
the  height  of  a  church  steeple  and,  over 
it  all,  the  glittering  heavens  full  of  stars 
and  a  small  silver-white  piece  of  the 
moon.  If  I  were  a  painter  I  should 
immediately  start  with  this  motive  for  a 
picture." 

"And  give  me  the  picture,  I  hope," 
I  laughed.  "And,  after  all,  not  such  a 
bad  idea  about  that  picture — one  should 
in  reality  propose  such  a  motive  to  an 
artist." 

"Maybe  it  would  be  possible  to  put 
in  a  couple  of  mermaids  who  look  in 
through  the  conning  tower  window  in- 
86 


RICH  SPOILS 

quisitively  and  knock  with  their  fingers 
on  the  glass,"  said  Petersen,  our  young- 
est lieutenant,  with  a  smile.  "That 
would  undoubtedly  make  the  picture 
still  more  attractive." 

Groning,  who  during  the  entire  time 
had  listened  with  a  quiet  smile  to  the 
conversation,  took  out  his  empty  cigar 
holder,  on  which  he  always  chewed  when 
we  were  under  water  because,  as  a  heavy 
smoker,  he  missed  tobacco,  as  none  of 
us  was  allowed  to  smoke  inside  the  boat. 
Slowly  he  said  with  a  touch  of  irony, 
in  a  deep,  sympathetic  voice : 

"Here,  my  dear  Petersen,  you  are  an 
unreasonable  rascal.  If  there  are  no 
women  in  the  game,  then  there  is  no 
pleasure  for  you.  Doesn't  the  fellow 
actually  talk  about  mermaids  when  he 
tells  us  every  fourth  week  he  is  going 
to  become  engaged.  'This  time  it's  ab- 
87 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

solutely  certain !  This  time  I  surely  will 
do  it,  as  I  will  never  find  such  a  girl 
again.'  This  and  more  I  hear  every 
month.  What  was  the  last  one's  name 
that  you  intended  to  make  happy — your 
March  girl?  Wait,  I  have  it — the  Feb- 
ruary girl — ha,  ha,  ha — has  the  captain 
heard  the  story  of  the  February  girl?" 

He  turned  to  me  laughing. 

"Will  you  shut  up,  Groning!"  Peter- 
sen burst  forth  and  blushed  up  to  his 
ears.  "I'll  tell  you  that  if  you  tell  tales 
out  of  school — and  besides " 

"Well,  Petersen,"  I  encouraged, 
"what  besides'?" 

"Besides,  all  that  is  not  true,"  he  con- 
tinued and  blushed  still  more  when  he 
noticed  that  he  had  betrayed  himself. 
''You  should  certainly  keep  quiet,"  he 
went  on  suddenly,  beaming  with  an 
idea,  and  began  to  attack  in  order  to 
88 


RICH  SPOILS 

lead  the  conversation  away  from  him- 
self. "He  who  lives  in  glass  houses 
should  be  more  careful." 

"I-I-I— how  so— that's  the  limit!" 
Groning  angrily  rejoined,  as  he  consid- 
ered it  an  honor  to  be  known  among  his 
friends  as  a  woman  hater.  "I — in  a 
glass  house?  It's  a  mean  accusation,  or 
have  you  been  drinking  too  much  wine, 
my  dear  boy?" 

"Bah!  only  a  glass,"  answered  the 
younger  officer,  defending  himself.  "It 
is  ridiculous  to  claim  anything  like 
that." 

"Well,  well,  be  friends  now,  sirs,"  I 
said  soothingly.  "Don't  let's  quarrel 
down  here  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  I 
hereby  decide  that  our  younger  officer 
is  absolutely  sober,  but  that,  even  so,  he 
will  not  be  allowed  to  let  his  April  girl 
with  her  fishtail  come  in  here,  as  a  pun» 
89 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

ishment,  because  he  has  jilted  his  Feb- 
ruary girl." 

With  this  decision  both  these  fighting 
roosters  (really  the  best  friends  in  the 
world)  had  to  be  pleased,  and  the  eter- 
nal discussion  of  Eve  and  her  daughters, 
which  had  nearly  made  the  ocean  bottom 
shake  under  our  feet,  was  ended. 

Shortly  after  this  we  went  to  bed  in 
our  narrow  bunks — for  the  first  time 
undressed  on  the  voyage — and  soon  en- 
joyed a  sleep  free  from  dreams. 


90 


THE  WITCH-KETTLE 

IN  the  morning  no  rooster  crowed  to 
wake  me.  But,  instead,  there  stood 
my  faithful  orderly,  the  Pole,  Tuczyn- 
ski,  before  my  bed,  and  loudly  an- 
nounced : 

"Herr  Captain  Lieutenant,  it's  five- 
thirty!" 

I  woke  up  in  bewilderment.  My  head 
was  still  dull  after  a  sound  sleep. 

"What's  up?" 

"It's  five-thirty,"  repeated  the  or- 
derly. "The  water  for  washing  and  the 
clothes  are  ready." 

Ah!  Like  a  flash  the  reality  was  be- 
91 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

fore  me.  We  were  lying  on  the  bottom 
of  the  sea — ^were  going  to  arise  within 
an  hour — and  then  we  were  going 
to 

I  leaped  out  of  bed.  The  thought  of 
"then  we  were  going  to"  fully  awoke 
me.  "Yes,  we  are  going  to  go  at  it; 
everything  depends  upon  to-day,"  I 
thought,  and  put  my  feet  into  my  slip- 
pers. 

Hardly  had  I  scrambled  to  my  feet 
when  I  had  to  grasp  the  closet  to  sup- 
port myself. 

"What's  up  now?"  I  asked,  turning 
to  my  good  Pole,  who  was  spitting  on 
my  left  boot  in  order  to  preserve  the 
shine.  "We  are  rolling.  What's  hap- 
pened?" 

"Must  be  a  little  sea  above,"  he  re- 
plied with  a  grin. 

"I  can  understand  that  myself,  you 
92 


THE  WITCH-KETTLE 

smarty,  but  when  did  it  start?  Run 
along  quickly  and  find  out  when  the 
rolling  was  first  noticed !" 

Tuczynski  hurried  to  the  "Centrale" 
and  returned  immediately  with  his 
answer: 

"About  two  o'clock,  says  Lieutenant 
Petersen." 

"Well,  then  we  must  have  a  consid- 
erable storm  above,  if  the  wind  has  been 
blowing  for  four  hours.  Get  out  my 
oil-skin  coat  quickly !  It  will  be  needed 
to-day,"  I  ordered,  and  hurriedly 
dressed  myself  as  water-tight  as  pos- 
sible. 

The  change  of  weather  did  not  suit 
my  purpose,  for,  although  to  judge 
from  the  motion  of  the  boat  the  storm 
was  not  as  yet  so  bad,  the  strength  of 
the  wind  was  probably  six,  and  it  was 
gradually  becoming  worse.  At  this 
98 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  V-W2 

time  of  the  year  storms  could  be  ter- 
rible. 

"Devil  take  the  luck — and  this  very- 
day,  too!"  I  swore  through  my  six-day 
old  beard-stub. 

After  breakfast  I  called  the  entire 
crew  together.  "Boys,"  I  said,  "you 
know  that  we  have  many  things  unac- 
complished. As  yet  we  are  only  at  the 
beginning  of  our  task.  Yesterday  and 
the  day  before  we  were  very  successful, 
and  now  we  have  had  a  restful  night. 
Being  well  rested,  we  are  now  cheer- 
fully and  confidently  ready  for  another 
day's  work.  To-day  we  are  going  to 
go  through  the  so-called  *  Witch-Kettle.' 
You  all  know  what  I  mean,  and  you 
know  also  that  this  is  not  child's  play. 
The  enemy  there  is  keeping  sharp  look- 
out, but  we  will  keep  a  better  look-out. 
Others  have  gotten  through  before  us. 
94 


THE  WITCH-KETTLE 

Consequently,  we  will  also  get  through, 
if  each  one  of  you  sticks  to  his  post  and 
does  his  duty  as  well  as  you  all  have 
done  hitherto.  This  I  expect  from 
every  man.  And  now — ^to  the  diving 
stations!" 

I  went  up  to  the  tower.  Shortly  after 
the  engineer  reported  from  the  "Cen- 
trale": 

"All  hands  are  at  the  diving  station!" 

Consequently  we  were  ready  for  our 
task.  The  day  began — the  most  re- 
markable day  of  my  life. 

"Arise!" 

The  pump  began  to  buzz.  We  now 
had  to  empty  the  ballast-tanks  of  the 
water  which  had  been  taken  in  to  make 
the  boat  heavier,  in  order  that,  instead 
of  being  held  down,  we  should  begin  to 
pull  ourselves  loose,  and  drift  slowly 
upwards.  Usually  that  manceuver  was 
95 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

accomplished  with  the  best  of  success, 
but  not  so  to-day.  The  boat  wabbled 
and  "stuck,"  as  we  used  to  say.  It 
called  to  my  mind  the  question  which 
is  often  asked  by  laymen:  "Are  you 
never  in  fear  of  not  being  able  to  get 
up  to  the  surface  again?"  We,  of 
course,  had  no  fear,  but  I  knocked  im- 
patiently on  the  manometer  to  see  if  the 
register  would  not  at  last  begin  to  move. 

"Nine  hundred  liters  above  the  nor- 
mal," Kriiger  reported  from  the  "Cen- 
trale." 

It  meant  that  we  had  pumped  out  of 
the  boat  nine  hundred  liters  more  than 
the  normal  quantity  necessary  to  make 
the  boat  rise. 

"It  seems  as  if  we  were  fastened  in  a 
vise,"  I  joked,  "but  in  accordance  with 
the  map  there  ought  to  be  a  sand  bottom 
here." 

96 


THE  WITCH-KETTLE 

"Now  it  loosens!"  the  engineer  called 
out. 

Yes,  the  boat  pulled  loose  all  right — 
the  hand  on  the  manometer  was  rising 
— but  it  shot  upwards  on  one  side  only. 
The  stern  arose  but  the  nose  remained 
fastened  in  the  mud. 

"How  confoundedly  nasty,"  I  heard 
Groning,  who  took  care  of  the  diving 
rudder,  growl. 

Now  the  entire  ballast  shifted.  We 
had  to  make  the  boat  heavier  in  the 
stern,  had  to  shift  the  ballast  of  the 
heretofore  well-balanced  boat  and  pump 
ballast  water  out  of  the  bow  to  pour 
water  into  the  stern  tanks,  in  order  to 
make  the  bow  lighter  and  the  stern 
heavier.  After  a  few  liters  of  water  had 
exchanged  places  the  boat  changed  her 
mind  and  again  placed  herself  in  a  hori- 
zontal position.  Then  she  arose  quickly 
97 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

and  satisfactorily,  but  showed  a  ten- 
dency to  list  toward  the  stern,  until  we, 
by  a  new  shift  of  the  ballast,  had  re- 
established the  old  conditions  of  equi- 
librium. 

After  the  boat  had  pulled  loose  with 
apparent  reluctance  from  her  bed  on  the 
bottom,  she  could  not  get  up  fast 
enough  to  stick  her  nose  into  the  fresh 
air.  Having  the  ballast  diminished  by 
nine  hundred  liters,  she  leaped  upwards 
rapidly,  but  this  did  not  suit  my  pur- 
pose, as  I  preferred  first  to  put  up  the 
periscope  and  find  out  whether  the 
atmosphere  was  free  from  British 
germs.  As  I  felt  I  was  entirely  respon- 
sible for  my  boat's  health,  I  entertained 
one  fear,  based  on  experience,  that 
germs  in  the  form  of  destroyers  and 
trawlers,  appearing  suddenly,  might  en- 
danger it.  I  made  the  boat  obey  my 
98 


THE  WITCH-KETTLE 

will,  let  the  nine  hundred  liters  be 
pumped  into  her  again,  and  thus 
checked  her  quick  ascent. 

At  the  same  time  I  had  the  dynamo 
motors  started,  so  that  we  would  have 
steerageway  for  the  diving  rudder,  and 
commanded  that  the  U-boat  should 
stop  at  the  depth  of  twenty  meters. 
Thereafter,  I  soon  came  to  the  periscope 
depth  and  took  a  look  around  to  see  if 
I  could  discover  any  ships.  There  was 
nothing  in  sight,  but  woe — a  heavy 
storm ! 

"Well,  it  can't  be  helped,"  I  said 
softly  to  myself. 

I  made  another  careful  search  of  the 
horizon  and  then  arose  entirely  to  the 
surface.  What  a  delightful  sensation 
to  be  standing  on  the  tower  with  my 
hands  to  my  sides  and  greedily  sucking 
my  lungs  full  of  the  fresh  sea  air!  The 
99 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-20a 

air  at  the  bottom  had  not  been  so  bad. 
On  the  contrary,  the  engineers  had  kept 
it  in  first-class  condition  during  the 
night,  but  more  delightful  was  the  won- 
derful ocean  air. 

Now  the  ventilator  burst  open  and  re- 
freshed those  inside  with  fresh  air 
throughout  the  ship. 

"Now,  Mate,"  I  ordered,  "let  me  take 
a  look  at  the  map  once  more.  That's 
right.  Put  it  right  up  here  on  the  tower 
— ^no  harm  done  if  it  gets  wet.  Now 
let's  have  a  compass  and  a  lead  pencil 
— thanks.  Watch  carefully  and  follow 
my  calculations  to  see  I  make  no  mis- 
take. From  here  to  the  first  mine  field 
it  is  twenty-two  miles;  from  there  to 
the  second  mine  field  about  fourteen 
miles — ^which  makes  thirty-six  miles  al- 
together. We  must  reach  the  first  field 
just  before  the  ebb  tide,  as  the  mines  are 
100 


THE  WITCU-JC:El'yXliE  •'  >  '■  i '%  ^' ''  '>  ' 

only  visible  just  before  or  right  after 
the  ebb  tide.  We  get  the  ebb  about  ten 
o'clock,  and  it  is  now  half  past  six.  We 
can,  therefore,  go  along  easily  at  half 
speed  and  will  have  enough  time 
to  recharge  the  batteries.  Is  that 
right?" 

"Yes,  that's  right,"  replied  the  mate, 
and  quickly  folded  up  the  map,  which  he 
had  shown  anxiety  in  guarding,  time 
and  time  again,  against  the  waves  wash- 
ing over  the  ship,  "if  we  only  don't  have 
to  dive  again." 

"I  don't  believe  we  will,"  I  said  with 
confidence.  "Here  near  the  mine  fields 
I  think  there  are  few  ships  sailing.  So 
far  as  that  goes,  we  are  really  safer  here. 
The  scouting  will  be  on  the  other  side  of 
the  fields." 

Exactly  one  hour  before  the  ebb  tide 
we  reached  those  sections  where  the 
101 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  V-W2 

enemy,  according  to  the  reports  from 
other  U-boats,  believed  that  they  had 
effectively  blocked  the  passage  with  a 
mine  field  that  stretched  for  several 
miles.  I  say  "believed,"  because  the 
mines,  as  before  stated,  were  showing 
above  the  surface  during  the  ebb  tide 
and  one  could  easily  steer  through  the 
lanes  between  them.  The  blocking  of 
this  important  passage  was  therefore 
for  the  enemy  an  assuring  but  some- 
what expensive  illusion.  It  was  not 
quite  so  easy  as  I  had  expected  from  the 
stories  and  reports  of  my  fellow  sub- 
marine commanders  to  slip  between  the 
mines. 

"Well,  sirs,  here  it  goes!"  I  said  to 
both  officers,  who,  like  me,  had  crawled 
into  their  thick  oil-skins  and  had  ex- 
changed their  caps,  embroidered  with 
gold  oak  leaves,  for  the  practical  south- 
102 


THE  WITCH-KETTLE 

Trester.  "Now,  we'll  see  who  spots  the 
first  mine." 

In  a  drizzle  of  foam  and  spray  we 
were  standing  side  by  side  and  gazed  at 
the  sea  several  hundred  meters  ahead 
of  us.  The  ocean  had  within  the  last 
few  hours  become  still  heavier  and 
stormier,  and  the  wind  came  from  the 
southwest  and  consequently  straight 
toward  us  so  that  there  was  danger  of 
discovering  the  mines  too  late,  as  they 
would  be  concealed  from  our  sight  with 
every  roll  of  the  sea. 

Suddenly  we  all  three  looked  at  one 
another  and  then  quickly  at  the  sea 
again.  There  they  were!  Heavens, 
what  a  bunch!  In  all  directions  as  far 
as  the  eye  could  see  were  the  devilish 
dark  globes,  washed  with  the  breakers' 
snow-white  foam.  We  were  so  over- 
whelmed by  the  sight  of  all  these  mines 
103 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  V-W2 

that  we  started  to  swear  and  kept  it  up 
for  some  time  without  any  interruption. 

"It's  outrageous!  It's  unheard  of! 
It's  terrible !  Such  a  mass !  And  such  a 
people  call  themselves  Christian  sea- 
farers— a  bunch  of  murderers,  that's 
what  they  are,  who  can  put  out  such 
dirty  traps!" 

With  reduced  speed  we  went  toward 
the  "caviar  sandwich,"  as  Petersen 
called  the  dark  spotted  surface  before 
us.  Now  it  was  "up  to"  us  skilfully  to 
steer  the  boat  between  the  irregularly 
spread  mines  and  see  carefully  to  it  that 
we  did  not  get  into  a  blind  alley.  If 
only  our  boat  did  not  hit  one  of  those 
devilish  things!  It  would  be  the  end  of 
us!  But  surely  if  we  kept  calm,  we 
should  get  through  all  right.  Certainly 
we  would.  We  had  a  warhelmsman 
who  was  a  wonder  in  his  line,  boat- 
104 


THE  WITCH-KETTLE 

swain's  mate  Lohmann.  He  could 
thank  his  skill  as  a  helmsman  for  his 
long  career  in  the  navy.  If  he  was  up 
to  some  deviltry — which,  it  is  said, 
rather  often  happened  in  former  days 
— it  was  always  mentioned  as  an  exten- 
uating circumstance — "but  he's  such  an 
able  helmsman." 

Lohmann,  when  he  put  his  mind  to  it, 
could  certainly  steer.  He  could  hit  a 
floating  cork  with  the  prow.  He  was 
standing  with  feet  apart  in  the  tower 
and  grinning  so  that  his  mouth  reached 
from  ear  to  ear.  He  always  grinned 
when  he  stood  at  the  wheel.  But  now 
that  he  had  become  the  most  important 
person  on  board,  he  was  radiating  joy 
and  pride  to  such  an  extent  that  his 
little  square  figure  took  on  a  superior 
pose  of  careless  daring.  With  his 
right  hand  he  spun  the  wheel  playfully, 
105 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-: 

just  as  if  he  were  experimenting.  He 
had  shoved  the  other  deep  down  into  the 
large  pocket  of  his  seaman's  trousers 
clear  up  to  his  elbow. 

Then  we  were  pounding  into  the 
mine  field.  Lohmann  squinted  together 
his  small  gray  eyes  to  a  couple  of  nar- 
row slits,  spat  first  in  his  right  hand, 
and  then  in  a  long  semi-circle  towards 
the  first  mine  which  we  were  just  pass- 
ing on  the  port  side.  He,  thereupon, 
hitched  his  slipping  trousers,  lit  his  nose- 
warmer— a  pipe  broken  off  close  to  the 
bowl — spat  once  more  into  his  right 
hand,  and  began  a  series  of  artistic  curv- 
ings  and  twistings  to  weave  his  way 
through  the  narrow  lanes.  And  he  was 
AS  calm  and  confident  as  if  he  had  done 
nothing  all  his  life  except  steer  U-boats 
through  mine  fields.  I  could  leave  him 
in  charge  of  it. 

106 


THE  WITCH-KETTLE 

After  ten  minutes  we  had  passed  the 
mine  field.  We  estimated  we  had  sifted 
through  about  eight  hundred  mines. 

At  high  speed  we  then  steered  toward 
the  second  batch  of  mines. 

Then  came  a  series  of  reverses  which 
made  this  the  most  eventful  day  so  far 
experienced  by  any  U-boat  crew  in  the 
war. 

It  was  ten  forty-two  by  the  clock. 

Beyond  the  second  mine  field  an  Eng- 
lish destroyer  was  patrolling.  We  had 
to  dive  quickly  and  go  through  the 
mines  under  the  water,  a  detested  and 
very  dangerous  proceeding! 

The  destroyer  had  not  seen  us.  The 
sea  became  more  violent ;  the  barometer 
fell  rapidly;  the  heaven  was  filled  with 
black  rain  clouds.  The  clearness  of  the 
atmosphere  disappeared,  and  the  ocean 
was  restless  and  covered  with  white 
107 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

foam.  The  sea  washed  over  the  peri- 
scope again  and  again  with  white- 
eomhed,  rushing  mountains  of  water,  so 
that  for  several  long  seconds  I  could 
see  nothing.  Suddenly  we  were  in  the 
midst  of  the  mines.  I  could  make  out 
those  that  were  close  by,  because  the 
water  had  risen  so  that  only  the  tops  of 
the  black  balls,  which  here  and  there 
bobbed  up  for  a  second,  could  be  seen. 
To  turn  away  from  the  mines  at  the 
right  moment  was  almost  impossible. 
We  were  running  straight  for  a  mine — 
the  next  second  it  was  on  top  of  us  and 
passed  only  a  few  meters  from  the  peri- 
scope. At  the  same  time,  on  the  other 
side,  three  mines  clustered  together  in 
a  group  were  floating  past  us.  It  was  a 
hellish  journey,  and  the  destroyer  was 
all  the  time  waiting  for  us  on  the  other 
side  of  the  mine  field,  and  compelled  us 
108 


THE  WITCH-KETTLE 

to  continue  below  the  surface.    He  had 
no  consideration  for  our  difficulties. 

Oh,  how  he  would  enjoy  it  if  we  sud- 
denly went  up  in  the  air,  surrounded  by 
a  cloud  of  smoke  and  fire !  Good  God! 
Now  we  are  about  to  give  him  this  joy. 
I  had  already  shut  my  eyes  and  thought 
we  were  doomed — because  one  of  the 
mines  had  just  struck  hard  with  a  metal- 
lic clang  against  the  periscope,  a  sound 
which  I  will  never  forget  until  I  am  in 
a  better  world!  But  the  mine,  which  I 
saw  just  before  the  wave  washed  over 
the  periscope,  had  been  carried  away  be- 
hind us  and  had  better  sense  than  to 
blow  us  up;  it  only  twisted  on  its  axis 
and  didn't  do  us  any  harm.  Maybe  it 
was  old  and  damaged. 

I  could  not  stand  it  any  longer.     I 
felt  like  a  man  trying  to  commit  suicide 
when  he  misses  his  aim. 
109 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

"Quickly  dive  to  twenty-five  meters !" 
I  called  down  to  the  "Centrale." 

Rather  dash  blindly  through  this  hell 
than  always  see  your  last  minute  right 
before  your  eyes,  and  still  be  unable  to 
do  anything.  But  if,  while  submerged, 
a  cable  should  fasten  itself  around  the 
U-boat?  The  chance  of  getting  through 
was  better  down  there,  I  figured. 

"Start  the  phonograph,"  I  conmiand- 
ed,  "and  put  on  something  cheerful,  if 
you  please!" 

In  spite  of  the  new,  beautiful  "Field 
Gray  Uniforms,"  the  song  which  soon 
resounded  through  the  boat,  I  heard 
twice  a  hellish  grinding  and  scraping 
above  the  conning  tower — ^mine  cables 
which  we  had  fouled.  At  last,  after 
many  long  minutes,  we  were  through 
the  mine  field.  We  arose  and  I  put  up 
the  periscope  and  looked  around.  God 
110 


THE  WITCH-KETTLE 

be  praised !  The  atmosphere,  or  rather 
the  water,  was  clearer.  The  destroyer 
was  several  hundred  meters  behind  us, 
and  we  had  come  through  the  horrible 
place  without  a  scratch. 

Aha!  There  was  the  first  buoy — the 
first  placed  on  the  narrow  sand  bar. 
Now  it  was  careful  steering  for  the  ship. 
We  took  soundings  and  proceeded  cau- 
tiously. If  only  the  current  had  not 
been  so  strong!  It  constantly  swung 
us  out  of  our  course.  I  had  to  steer 
against  the  current  continually. 

"Mate,  how  far  are  we  now  from 
land?" 

The  sailor  quickly  brought  up  the 
chart  and  measured  the  distance  with  a 
scale. 

"Two  and  a  half  sea  miles." 

"Oh,  the  devil!  And,  as  yet,  we  can- 
not see  anything  of  it.  The  air  has  been 
111 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

thickening.  That's  all  we  need  to  make 
things  worse  for  us!" 

The  cruiser  on  guard  now  came  rush- 
ing past  us  on  the  port  side.  It  was 
not  far  from  us  when  I  pulled  down  the 
periscope  for  a  time. 

Who  can  describe  my  fright  when  I 
put  up  the  periscope  again  in  a  few  min- 
utes and  could  not  see  anything  because 
of  the  fog  that  had  settled  down  on  the 
seal  A  dark  rainwall  also  moved  along 
the  surface.  And  this  was  just  where 
it  was  absolutely  necessary  for  me  to 
see.  I  must  see  where  the  channel  be- 
gan to  be  very  narrow  I  Only  one  nar- 
row passage  about  two  hundred  meters 
wide,  there  was,  within  which  we  abso- 
lutely must  proceed.  Every  turn  away 
from  this — either  to  the  right  or  left — 
would  immediately  run  us  into  the  sand- 
bank. And  now  there  was  no  sign  of 
112 


THE  WITCH-KETTLE 

the  buoy  which  marked  the  channel.  In 
addition  to  this  we  faced  a  current  we 
had  not  counted  on. 

I  searched  and  searched  for  the  buoy. 
The  sweat  stood  out  on  my  forehead, 
and  the  excitement  made  me  so  warm 
that  the  sights  on  the  periscope  time 
and  time  again  clouded  up  on  account 
of  the  heat  from  my  body.  The  mate 
must  continually  wipe  the  wet  glass 
with  a  piece  of  chamois. 

"Now  we  should  be  off  the  buoy. 
Mate,  but  I  don't  see  it!  Good  God, 
what  are  we  going  to  do!  It  will  be 
fatal — it  is  impossible  to  navigate  with- 
out picking  it  up.  And  besides,  the 
destroyer  which  is  lurking  behind  that 
confounded  rainwall  and  which  at  any 
minute  can  come  up  alongside  us!" 

The  buoy  did  not  appear. 

Then  the  weather  began  to  clear  up. 
113 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

The  rain  thinned  and  the  fog  lifted  a 
little. 

First  we  saw  land.  Thereafter  we 
saw  the  destroyer  at  quite  a  distance  on 
the  port  side,  laying  a  course  towards 
us,  and  then — ^then 

All  good  spirits  have  mercy  on  us ! 

The  buoy — our  buoy — ^was  to  the 
wrong  side. 

And  we?  Great  God  in  Heaven — 
we  were  going  on  the  wrong  course! 
We  were  running  right  for  the  sand- 
bank. We  must  already  be  right  on  top 
of  them.  Disastrously  for  us,  it  has 
cleared  too  late. 

"Hard  a-starboard!  Reverse  both 
engines  full  speed !"  There  was  nothing 
more  to  do.  Then  came  the  disaster! 
A  jar  and  a  whirring — U-boat  202  had 
gone  aground. 


114 


VI 

A  DAY  OF  TERROR 

WHAT  we  went  through  was  hor- 
rible. The  breakers  dashed 
high  over  the  sandbar.  They  hurled 
themselves  on  us  to  destroy  our  boat, 
played  ball  with  us,  lifted  us  high  into 
the  air  and  dropped  us  again  on  the  bar 
with  such  fury  that  the  whole  boat  shiv- 
ered and  trembled. 

We  had  lost  control  of  the  boat  com- 
pletely. The  roaring  breakers  made  so 
much  noise  we  could  hear  them  through 
the  thick  metal  wall.  Every  new,  on- 
rushing  wave  tossed  us  higher  and 
higher  on  the  reef.  Exposure  was  our 
greatest  danger.  Already  the  top  of 
115 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-20a 

the  conning  tower  and  the  prow  pro- 
jected above  the  surface — ^but  a  moment 
more  and  the  entire  boat  would  be 
plainly  visible.  Then  we  would  surely 
be  lost.  As  a  helpless  wreck,  we  would 
become  a  target  for  the  destroyer. 

Pale  and  calm,  every  man  stuck  to 
his  post  and  clung  to  the  nearest  sup- 
port, so  as  not  to  fall  at  the  rolling  and 
jolting  of  the  boat.  With  awe,  I  looked 
alternately  at  the  manometer  and  the 
feverish  sea  which  I  could  see  all  around 
me  through  the  conning  tower  windows. 
Oh,  if  it  had  been  only  the  sea  we  must 
fear!  But  through  the  scum  and  froth, 
more  merciless  than  the  wild,  onrushing 
breakers,  the  black  destroyer,  smoking 
copiously,  steamed  straight  toward  us, 
like  a  bull  with  lowered  horns. 

"We  had  better  keep  below  the  water 
at  any  price,  even  if  we  are  smashed  to 
116 


A  DAY  OF  TERROR 

pieces  against  the  sandbank  and  the  boat 
breaks  up,  rather  than  to  be  blown  to 
pieces  by  the  shells  of  the  English,"  was 
the  thought  that  flashed  through  my 
brain. 

"Fill  the  ballast  tanks,"  I  called  down 
to  the  "Centrale."  "Fill  all  the  tanks 
full,.  Herr  Engineer.  Do  you  hear? 
We  must  not  under  any  circumstances 
rise  any  higher!" 

"All  ballast  tanks  filling!"  it  was  re- 
ported from  below. 

Oh,  how  quiet  it  was  below!  Not  a 
word  was  uttered.  No  anxious  conjec- 
tures, no  surmises,  and  no  questions, 

A  deep,  irresistible  grief  clutched  my 
heart.  My  poor  little  boat!  My  poor 
crew!  There  every  man  unflinchingly 
and  unhesitatingly  did  his  duty,  and 
devotedly  put  his  faith  in  me.  They 
were  all  heroes,  so  young  and  still  so 
117 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U- 

brave  and  able.  And  I,  the  commander, 
had  brought  them  into  the  very  mouth 
of  death,  and  to  me,  the  only  one  who 
could  see  our  desperate  situation,  it 
seemed  as  if  the  scale  of  death  slowly 
weighed  against  us,  because  the  de- 
stroyer, with  horrible  certainty,  was  ap- 
proaching. His  sharp  prow  pointed  di- 
rectly towards  us.  Soon  he  would  dis- 
cover the  projecting  parts  of  our  tower 
and  prow,  which  the  breakers  treacher- 
ously washed  over,  and  then  we  would 
be  lost.  Soon  a  hail  of  shells  would 
sweep  over  us,  and  the  greedy,  foaming 
sea  would  roaringly  hurl  itself  through 
the  open  holes  in  our  sides. 

The  filling  of  the  ballast  tanks  had 
the  desired  effect.  The  boat  lay  down 
heavily  on  the  reef  and  spurred  the  wild 
waves  to  greater  efforts,  and,  though 
we  did  not  rise  any  farther,  the  jolting 
118 


A  DAY  OF  TERROR 

increased  in  violence  because  of  its 
added  weight.  It  was  a  wonder  that  the 
boat  did  not  go  to  pieces  like  an  egg 
shell,  and  we  all  looked  at  one  another 
in  surprise  when,  after  a  terrific  jolt, 
nothing  more  occurred  than  the  burst- 
ing of  a  few  electric  bulbs.  "First-class 
material,"  I  thought  to  myself. 

The  mate  who,  over  my  shoulder,  was 
keeping  watch  on  the  destroyer  through 
the  window  on  the  port  side,  suddenly 
said,  in  his  hearty,  Saxon  dialect: 

"Well,  well!  Where  does  he  intend 
to  look  for  us  now,  I  wonder?  At  any 
rate,  he  doesn't  think  that  we  are  stuck 
here  among  the  breakers." 

"Mate,  you  old  optimist.  Those 
words  I'll  never  forget.  Great  God! 
If  you  are  right!    Then  certainly " 

"He  is  already  turning,"  the  little 
chap  cut  me  short,  and  janmied  his  nose 
119 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  V-W2 

against  the  window-glass,  so  as  to  be 
able  to  see  better. 

I  grabbed  him  by  the  neck  and  pulled 
him  away,  as  my  blood  rushed  to  my 
head. 

"What?  What  is  it  you  are  saying? 
Is  he  turning — good  God  in  heaven — 
yes,  it's  true — ^he  really  is  turning,  all 
the  time  turning — now  his  broadside 
swings  round  towards  us,  now  his  stern 
— ^he  has  turned — ^he  is  departing.  He 
has  not  seen  us,  he  has  not  seen  us!" 

I  remember  that  once,  when  I  was  a 
little  boy,  I  got  a  roe-deer  as  a  present. 

I  loved  it  a  great  deal  and  we  were 
inseparable.  It  h[:d  to  sleep  on  a  rug 
by  my  bed.  One  beautiful  summer's 
day  we  were  playing  in  the  sun  on  a 
large  lawn  before  the  house  when  sud- 
denly a  large,  unknown  hound  came 
rushing  towards  my  little  pet  and  blood- 
120 


A  DAY  OF  TERROR 

thirstily  chased  it  around  the  lawn.  The 
nasty  dog  was  about  to  run  it  down 
when  my  pet,  with  a  shrill  shriek,  ap- 
pealed for  help.  I  was  standing  para- 
lyzed in  terror  and  could  not  get  a  word 
through  my  lips,  when  unexpectedly  the 
owner  called  the  dog  back  with  a 
whistle.  Then  I  threw  myself,  with 
great  exultation,  down  alongside  my 
pet,  pressed  it  to  my  heart,  kissed  its 
black  snoot,  and  cried  and  laughed  with 

joy- 

Those  were  my  feelings  now,  when, 
with  my  own  eyes,  I  saw  the  impossible 
— that  the  destroyer,  without  suspecting 
our  presence,  had  steered  away  from  us. 
Was  it  possible  that  he  did  not  see  us, 
when,  according  to  my  estimation,  he 
was  only  about  eight  hundred  meters 
away?  Could  the  mate  be  right,  and 
the  foolish  destroyer  have  only  searched 
121 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

the  passage  in  accordance  with  his 
schedule?  "But,"  I  thought,  with  a 
shiver,  "how  easily  would  not  perchance 
a  glance  in  our  direction  have  betrayed 
us?" 

Radiant  with  joy,  I  told  the  crew  in 
the  "Centrale"  what  a  happy  turn  the 
affairs  had  taken  at  the  last  moment. 
A  burden  must  have  fallen  from  the 
hearts  of  my  splendid,  brave  boys. 

I  then  revealed  my  plans  to  the  en- 
gineer: 

"We  are  going  to  lie  here  until  the 
destroyer  reaches  the  other  end  of  his 
patrol,  which  is  about  three  to  four  sea 
miles  from  here.  Then,  at  once,  quickly 
empty  all  the  tanks  so  that  the  boat  cuts 
loose  from  the  reef.  At  top  speed,  we 
will  make  for  deep  water  and  then  dive 
again  to  a  safe  position  below  the  sur- 
face." 

122 


A  DAY  OF  TERROR 

Again  a  light  rain-cloud  floated 
slowly  towards  us  and  favored  our 
plans.  Soon  the  destroyer  could  be  seen 
only  as  a  fading  figure  in  the  mist.  Now 
we  could  risk  to  arise  and  get  away 
from  our  other  danger — the  fiercely 
rolling  breakers. 

The  valves  were  quickly  opened.  At 
once  the  boat  came  up.  The  terrific 
jolting  ceased.  The  hand  of  the 
manometer  moved  upwards,  and,  after 
a  few  seconds,  the  boat's  broad,  drip- 
ping back  broke  through  the  sur- 
face. 

There  is  the  buoy!  Now  full  speed 
ahead!  We'll  be  soon  there — now  but 
a  few  hundred  meters  more  and  then 
the  game  is  ours — a  game  on  which  life 
and  death  depended;  a  game  which 
would  have  turned  our  hair  white  if  we 
had  not  been  so  young,  and  if  we  had 
123 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-! 

not,  through  horrible  dangers,  been 
united  by  true  and  faithful  bonds. 

As  soon  as  we  had  placed  ourselves 
on  the  right  side  of  the  longed-for  buoy 
we  again  hurled  ourselves  deep  down 
into  the  cool  sea  as  happily  as  a  fish 
which  for  a  long  time  had  been  on  dry 
land,  and  suddenly  gets  into  its  own  ele- 
ment again. 

The  first  and  most  dangerous  part  of 
our  journey  through  the  "Witch-Ket- 
tle" was  over,  although  not  without  its 
horrible  experiences.  The  narrow  inlet 
was  passed  and  also  the  several  sea 
miles,  wide  and  free  from  reefs  and 
other  navigation  difficulties.  Thus  we 
merrily  glided  about  in  the  deep  and,  in 
good  spirits,  hammered  and  listened  and 
felt  our  splendid,  hard-tried,  heavily- 
tested  boat  all  over  back  and  forth,  to 
see  if  it  had  pulled  through  without  a 


A  DAY  OF  TERROR 

leak  from  the  pit  of  the  rolling  break- 
ers ;  and  we  soon  all  forgot.  As  long  as 
the  nerves  were  at  a  continuous  tension 
we  had  no  time  to  think  about  past 
events.  And  though  we  had  happily- 
passed  through  and  over  mines  and 
reefs,  still  the  day  was  far  from  ended, 
and  our  main  task  was  still  before 
us. 

This  day  continually  brought  us  new 
and  unexpected  surprises,  so  that,  at 
last,  we  had  a  gruesome  feeling  that 
everything  had  united  itself  for  our  de- 
struction. First  there  were  the  trawl- 
ers ;  then  the  motor  boats,  which  in  pairs, 
with  a  steel  net  between  them,  searched 
through  the  channel  where  they  sus- 
pected that  U-boats  were  lurking. 
Every  time  we  stuck  up  our  periscope 
cautiously  in  order  to  look  around  a 
bit,  it  never  failed  that  we  had  one  of 
125 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

those  searching  parties  right  in  front  of 
us,  so  that  we  must  submerge  in  a  hurry 
to  a  greater  depth  in  order  not  to  be 
caught  by  the  dangerous  nets.  And  if 
for  a  short  time  there  was  an  opportu- 
nity to  scan  the  horizon  undisturbed, 
then  the  atmosphere  was  thick,  and  we 
were  unable  to  locate  the  shores,  which 
we  knew  were  close  at  hand,  so  that  at 
last  we  hardly  knew  where  we  were,  as 
the  currents  in  these  parts  could  not  be 
estimated.  Since  the  famous  buoy  we 
had  not  seen  any  mark  which  would 
in  any  degree  assist  us  to  locate  our- 
selves. 

We  kept  to  our  course  up  the  center 
of  the  channel  and  trusted  that  our 
lucky  star  would  lead  us  straight. 
Every  half  hour  we  came  up  from  the 
safety  of  the  deep  and  tried  to  take  our 
bearings  and  then  submerged  again,  dis- 
126 


A  DAY  OF  TERROR 

appointed.  The  crew,  of  course,  must 
remain  at  the  diving  stations  uninter- 
ruptedly. 

About  two  o'clock  the  cook  came 
around  with  pea-soup  and  pork  in  small 
tin  cups.  He  also  stretched  up  his  arms 
to  us  in  the  conning  tower  with  a  steam- 
ing plate  in  his  hands.  I  put  the  plate 
on  my  knees  and  dipped  out  its  con- 
tents, thinking  "The  wild  beasts  are 
fed."  The  moisture,  which  forms  in 
large  drops  on  the  ceiling  during  long 
trips  under  the  water,  fell  down  on  my 
head  and  into  my  plate  and  left  small 
splotches  of  oil  in  the  pea-soup  as  a  sign 
they  were  real  drops  of  U-boat  sweat. 

We  again  arose  to  the  periscope  level 
at  four  o'clock.  At  a  distance  of  five 
hundred  meters,  a  scouting  fleet  was 
moving  about.  At  the  same  time  on 
our  starboard  bow  a  French  torpedo 
127 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

boat  with  four  funnels  was  cruising 
around. 

I  had  a  desire  to  fire  a  shot  at  this 
enemy,  but  the  fact  that  such  a  shot 
would  send  the  whole  lurking  fleet  at 
us  restrained  me. 

I  have  to  admit  that  it  was  hard  to 
hold  back  from  taking  the  chance,  and 
it*  was  with  a  heavy  heart  that  I  gave 
orders  to  dive  again.  But  this,  how- 
ever, saved  us.  If  we  had  traveled  at 
the  periscope  level  for  only  a  few  min- 
utes more,  I  would  not  be  sitting  here 
to-day,  smoking  my  cigar  and  writing 
down  the  story  of  our  adventures. 

We  were  submerging,  and  the  manom- 
eter showed  seventeen  meters.  Then, 
suddenly,  it  was  as  if  some  one  had  hit 
each  one  of  us  at  the  same  minute  with 
a  hammer.  We  all  were  unconscious  for 
a  second  and  found  ourselves  on  the 
128 


A  DAY  OF  TERROR 

floor  or  thrown  prone  in  some  corner 
with  our  heads,  shoulders,  and  other 
parts  of  our  bodies  in  great  pain.  The 
whole  boat  shook  and  trembled.  Were 
we  still  alive  or  what  had  happened? 
Why  was  it  so  dark  all  around  us?  The 
electric  lights  had  gone  out. 

"Look  to  the  fuse!" 

"It's  gone!" 

"Put  in  the  reserve  fusel" 

Suddenly  we  had  our  lights  again. 
All  this  happened  within  a  few  sec- 
onds and  more  quickly  than  I  can  tell 
it. 

What  had  happened  ?  Was  it  true  we 
were  lost?  Would  the  water  rush  into 
the  ship  and  pull  us  to  the  bottom?  It 
must  be  a  mine — a  violent  mine  detona- 
tion had  shaken  us  close  by  the  boat. 
And  the  U-202  ?  What  were  the  conse- 
quences of  this  to  the  U-boat? 
129 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

The  reports  came  from  all  quarters: 
"The  bow  compartment  is  tight !" 
"The  stern  compartments  tight!" 
"The  engine  room  all  safe!" 
Then  the  boat  unexpectedly  began  to 
list.      The   bow   sunk,    and  the   stern 
arose.    The  ship  careened  violently,  al- 
though the  diving  rudder  was  set  hard 
against  this. 

"Herr  Captain,"  Groning,  who  was 
in  charge  of  the  diving  rudder,  shouted, 
"something  has  happened.  The  boat 
does  not  obey  the  rudder.  We  must 
have  gotten  hooked  into  some  trap — a 
line  or  maybe  a  net.  It's  hell.  That's 
all  that's  needed.  We  are  jammed  into 
some  net,  and  all  around  us  the  mines 
are  lining  it.  It's  enough  to  set  you 
crazy." 

"Listen,"  I  called  down.    "We  must 
go  through  it.    Put  the  diving  rudder 
130 


A  DAY  OF  TERROR 

down  hard!  Both  engines  full  speed 
ahead!  On  no  condition  must  we  rise! 
We  must  stay  down  at  all  costs.  All 
around  above  us  are  mines!" 

The  engines  were  going  at  top  speed. 
The  boat  shot  upwards  and  then  bent 
down,  ripped  into  the  net,  jerked,  pulled 
and  tore  and  tore  until  the  steel  net 
gave  way  from  the  force  of  the  at- 
tack. 

"Hurrah!  We  are  through  it!  The 
boat  obeys  her  diving  rudder!"  Gron- 
ing  called  out  from  below.  "The  U-202 
goes  on  her  way!" 

"Down,  keep  her  down  all  the  time. 
Dive  to  a  depth  of  fifty  meters,"  I  com- 
manded. "This  is  a  horrible  place — a 
real  hell!" 

I  bent  forward  and  put  my  head 
into  my  hands.  It  was  rocking  as  if 
being  hit  by  a  trip  hammer.  My  fore- 
131 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

head  ached  as  if  pricked  with  needles 
and  my  ears  buzzed  so  that  I  had  to 
press  my  fingers  into  them. 

"It's  a  horrible  place,"  I  repeated  to 
myself.  "And  what  luck  we  had,  what 
a  peculiar  chance  and  wonderful  escape 
that  we  got  out  at  all!" 

It  took  some  time  for  my  aching  head 
to  remember  chronologically  what  had 
happened.  Yes,  it  certainly  was  lucky 
that  we,  at  the  right  moment,  had  sub- 
merged deep.  We  had  been  at  a  depth 
of  about  seventeen  meters  when  our 
prow  collided  with  the  net,  and  the  det- 
onation followed.  The  more  I  thought 
of  it,  the  plainer  everything  became  to 
me. 

As  we  had  run  against  the  net,  it  had 

stretched  and  that  had  set  off  the  mine. 

The  mines  are  set  in  the  nets  at  the 

height  at  which  the  U-boats  generally 

132 


A  DAY  OF  TERROR 

travel,  which  is  the  periscope  level.  If 
we  had  tried  to  attack  the  torpedo  boat 
or,  for  any  other  reason,  had  remained 
for  a  few  minutes  more  at  the  periscope 
level,  we  would  have  run  into  the  net  at 
a  point  where  our  enemies  had  hoped  we 
would — ^namely,  so  that  the  mine  would 
have  exploded  right  under  us.  Now  the 
mine,  on  the  contrary,  exploded  above 
us,  and  its  entire  strength  went  in  the 
direction  where  the  natural  resistance 
was  smallest — which  was  upwards. 
Without  causing  us  any  greater  damage 
than  a  fright  and  a  few  possible  scars 
on  the  thin  metal  parts,  which  might 
have  scratched  the  paint,  we  had  es- 
caped. 

Undoubtedly    the    Frenchman    was 
filled  with  exultation  over  our  destruc- 
tion when,  waiting  at  his  post  by  the 
net,  he  heard  and  saw  the  explosion, 
133 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

and  probably  reported  by  wireless  to 
the  entire  world: 

"Enemy  U-boat  caught  and  de- 
stroyed in  a  net  by  a  mine  explo- 
sion." 

And  little  I  begrudge  him  that  joy 
if  he,  as  a  return  favor  in  the  future, 
will  leave  us  alone,  because  we  had  got- 
ten pretty  nearly  all  we  wanted,  as  it 
was. 

The  day's  experiences  were  far  from 
ended.  First  Engineer  Kriiger  ap- 
peared on  the  stairway  to  the  conning 
tower  with  a  troubled  look, 

"Herr  Captain,"  he  reported,  "we 
must  have  gotten  something  in  the  pro- 
peller. Our  electric  power  is  being  con- 
sumed twice  as  fast  as  it  should.  I  sup- 
pose that  pieces  of  the  metal  net  have 
entangled  themselves  in  the  blades.  The 
laboring  of  the  engines  is  terrific  and 
134 


A  DAY  OF  TERROR 

the  charge  in  the  batteries  is  being  rap- 
idly reduced,  and  they  are  becoming  ex- 
hausted." 

Were  we  now  going  to  have  this  dif- 
ficulty, too !  We  had  already  consumed 
a  large  quantity  of  the  current,  because 
we  had  been  compelled  to  dive  at  our 
highest  speed  and  this  uses  up  the  bat- 
teries fast. 

"How  far  can  we  go  on  it  now,  Herr 
Kriiger?" 

The  engineer  calculated  in  his  note- 
book, shrugged  his  shoulders  thought- 
fully, and  said: 

"If  we  do  not  consume  it  any  faster, 
it  should  last  us  for  a  couple  of  hours 
yet.  It  would  be  better,  however,  to 
decrease  our  speed  a  little." 

I  pondered  this  situation  for  a  time. 
In  about  an  hour  the  tide  would  turn 
and  the  current  would  be  against  us. 
135 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

We  would  not  be  able  to  make  much 
speed  then,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  it 
would  be  dark,  and  we  would  probably 
dare  to  rise  to  the  surface.  The  enemy 
undoubtedly  believed  we  had  perished 
and  would  have  decreased  his  vigilance. 

"All  right,"  replied  the  engineer. 
"We'll  stop  one  motor.  There  is  no 
danger  we  will  run  aground.  It  is  too 
deep  here  for  that." 

Consequently,  we  stopped  one  motor, 
and  continued  ahead  at  a  reduced  speed. 
At  exactly  five  o'clock  we  came  up 
again  to  look  around.  Hard  by  in  our 
wake  was  the  French  torpedo  boat 
steaming  at  a  distance  of  about  two  hun- 
dred meters. 

"Well,  what  is  it  now?"  I  said  to  the 
mate,  and  bit  nervously  on  my  lower  lip. 
"It  looks  as  if  that  rascal  was  after 


us." 


136 


A  DAY  OF  TERROR 

"It  must  be  a  coincidence,"  answered 
the  unperturbed  optimist. 

We  submerged  once  more,  but  came 
up  again  after  another  half  hour. 

The  torpedo  boat  still  came  after  us, 
steaming  along  in  our  wake  at  a  distance 
of  two  hundred  meters. 

"If  this  is  a  coincidence,  Mate,  then 
it  is  a  very,  very  peculiar  one,"  I  said 
to  him. 

When  it  was  six  o'clock  we  again 
took  a  look  around.  The  Frenchman 
was  still  after  us  at  the  same  distance. 

"The  devil!  This  is  no  coincidence! 
I'll  be  hanged  if  this  is  a  coincidence. 
This  is  intentional.  We  are  certanly 
pursued!" 

There  must  be  something  the  matter 

with  us.     The  enemy  must  be  able  to 

follow  us — there  must  be  some  sign  that 

enables  him  to  follow  us  even  when  sub- 

137 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

merged  to  a  great  depth.    What  could 
it  be? 

I  was  pondering  this  impossible  prob- 
lem. The  only  thing  I  could  think  of 
was  that  when  the  mine  exploded,  it  had 
caused  a  leakage  in  one  of  our  oil  tanks 
and  that  the  escaping  oil  left  a  plain 
trail  that  betrayed  our  presence.  It  was 
impossible  at  any  rate  on  account  of  our 
slow  speed  under  the  water,  against  the 
current,  that  by  a  coincidence  and  with- 
out knowing  about  it,  the  Frenchman 
kept  coming  after  us  at  the  same  pre- 
cise distance.  I  had  to  find  out  about  it. 
We  submerged  once  more,  changed  our 
course,  and  proceeded  at  full  speed.  If 
the  Frenchman  had  really  been  able  to 
see  anything  of  us,  then  he  would  also 
follow  us  now  when  we  changed  our 
course  and  were  going  four  times  as 
fast. 

138 


A  DAY  OF  TERROR 

At  half  past  six  I  looked  astern 
through  the  periscope  and  again  saw, 
just  as  at  five,  half  past  five,  and  six, 
the  Frenchman  who,  at  the  same  speed 
on  a  changed  course,  continued  to  fol* 
low  us. 


139 


VII 

A  LIYELY   CHASE 

THE  fact  that  the  French  destroyer 
continually  followed  us  at  the 
same  distance  made  me  certain.  There 
was  no  doubt  about  it.  We  had  been 
discovered  and  were  pursued.  Soon  the 
Frenchman  would  call  for  aid  and  would 
have  all  the  bloodhounds  of  the  sea  on 
our  scent  and  following  us.  By  this 
time  our  storage  batteries  had  begun 
to  be  exhausted,  and  the  water  was  a 
hundred  meters  deep  so  that  it  was  im- 
possible for  us  to  lie  on  the  bottom. 

"Nice  prospects,"  I  thought  to  my- 
self.   To  the  mate  and  crew  in  the  "Cen- 
140 


A  LIVELY  CHASE 

trale,"  I  called  loudly  so  that  all  could 
hear  me : 

"Well,  now  we  have  gotten  rid  of 
him  at  last.  Didn't  I  say  it  was  only 
a  coincidence?" 

I  wanted  to  relieve  the  tension  on  the 
nerves  of  the  men,  because  I  knew  how 
they  had  gone  on  for  days  at  a  high  pitch 
of  excitement. 

In  my  plans,  I  had  counted  on  the 
darkness,  which  must  come  soon.  We 
would  be  very  economical  of  the  power, 
so  that  it  would  take  us  to  the  point 
which  I  had  selected  after  carefully 
studying  the  chart.  We  kept  to  the 
same  course  for  half  an  hour.  Then, 
when  the  darkness  must  have  settled 
down,  I  turned  off  at  an  angle  of  ninety 
degrees,  and  headed  straight  for  the 
coast,  where  I  knew  the  depth  would 
permit  us  to  rest  on  the  bottom,  to  wait 
141 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  V-W2 

until  the  enemy  had  given  up  his  man- 
hunt. This  would  be  towards  morning, 
I  thought,  especially  if  the  storm  com- 
ing up  from  the  southwest  should  in- 
crease in  violence  so  that  the  searching 
of  the  water  with  nets  would  become 
very  difficult. 

The  point  that  I  had  selected  for  our 
resting  place  was  far  from  comfortable. 
And  it  was  marked  on  the  chart,  not 
with  the  reassuring  "Sd."  which  indi- 
cated a  sand  bottom,  but  with  the 
dreaded  "St."  which  meant  the  bottom 
was  stony.  But  we  had  no  choice.  And 
when  the  devil  is  in  a  pinch,  he  will  eat 
flies,  although  he  is  accustomed  to  better 
food.  We  did  not  rise  again,  since  we 
knew  it  was  dark  over  the  sea,  but  con- 
tinued at  a  considerable  depth  without 
incident  and  slowly  approached  our 
goal. 

14S 


A  LIVELY  CHASE 

About  midnight,  according  to  my  cal- 
culations, we  would  be  able  to  touch  the 
bottom.  And  the  storage  batteries  had 
to  last  up  to  that  time.  Kriiger  figured 
and  figured  and  came  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  they  would  hardly  last  long 
enough. 

Until  ten  o'clock  we  had  heard  our 
friend's  propellers  over  us  several  times. 
Thereafter  all  became  quiet  on  the  sur- 
face, and,  relieved,  I  drew  a  deep  breath. 
They  had  lost  the  scent.  It  became 
bearable  again  in  the  U-boat.  I  sat  on 
the  stairway  leading  to  the  "Centrale" 
and  was  eating  sandwiches  and  drink- 
ing hot  tea  with  the  other  officers  and  the 
rest  of  the  crew.  It  was  almost  twelve 
o'clock  and  still  we  had  not  touched  bot- 
tom. What  would  happen  if  the  com- 
putation of  our  location  was  wrong? 
This  could  easily  have  occurred,  because 
143 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

of   the  strong   current   and  our  slow 
speed. 

Half-past  twelve!  Still  no  bottom! 
Engineer  Kriiger  was  nervously  stamp- 
ing his  feet  and  turned  out  one  electric 
light  after  another  in  order  to  save 
power.  For  the  same  reason,  the  elec- 
tric heating  apparatus  had  been  cut  off 
for  a  long  time,  and  we  were  very 
cold. 

At  five  minutes  to  one  we  felt  a 
slight  scraping.  The  motors  were 
stopped  and  then  we  reversed  them  in 
order  to  decrease  our  speed.  A  slight 
jolt!  We  filled  the  ballast  tanks  and- 
were  lying  on  the  bottom  where  we 
could  wait  for  morning  at  our  ease. 
Who  thought  that?  He  who  imagined 
that  we  would  have  any  rest  was  dis- 
appointed. We  were  lying  on  a  rock, 
and  the  tide  turned  about  two  o'clock, 
144 


A  LIVELY  CHASE 

and  the  southwest  wind  swept  the  sea 
fiercely. 

At  the  beginning,  it  seemed  as  if  we 
would  be  all  right,  down  there  on  the 
"St."  bottom,  but  we  soon  discovered 
differently — when  the  rolling  began. 
There  was  no  chance  of  gentle  resting, 
as  on  the  soft  sand  of  the  North  Sea, 
but,  instead,  we  banged  and  racked 
from  one  rock  to  another,  so  it  was  a 
wonder  the  boat  could  stand  it  at  all. 

Sometimes  it  sounded  as  if  large 
stones  were  rolling  on  deck  and,  again, 
our  boat  would  fall  three  or  four  meters 
deeper  with  a  jolt,  so  that  the  manom- 
eter was  never  at  rest,  and  we  had  to 
stand  this  continued  rising  and  falling 
between  twenty-two  and  thirty-eight 
meters. 

At  last,  towards  four  o'clock,  we  gave 
it  up.    At  some  of  the  joints  in  the  ship, 
145 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

there  were  small  leakages,  and  none  of 
us  had  any  thought  of  sleeping.  We, 
therefore,  went  up  to  the  surface. 

I  opened  the  conning  tower  hatch  and 
let  the  fresh  air  rush  against  me.  I  had 
a  queer  sensation.  It  seemed  to  me  as 
if  we  had  been  buried  in  the  deep  for  an 
eternity  and  had  had  a  long,  bad  dream. 

But  we  had  no  time  to  dream.  The 
storm  had  not  calmed,  but  continued  in 
its  fury,  and  it  was  not  long  before  we 
in  the  tower  were  soaking  wet.  How- 
ever, to  our  satisfaction,  the  water  was 
much  warmer  than  in  the  North  Sea. 
We  noticed  that  the  last  hours  had 
brought  us  much  closer  to  our  object. 

It  was  the  Gulf  Stream  that  was 
flowing  by  us  and  which,  in  this  section, 
is  really  warm,  running  between  two 
shores  close  together. 

The  night  was  coal  black.  At  a  great 
146 


A  LIVELY  CHASE 

distance  astern,  two  light-houses  flashed, 
one  white  and  the  other  red.  It  was 
easy  for  us  to  know  our  position.  No 
enemy  was  in  sight,  so  he  must  have 
abandoned  his  search  as  useless.  Can 
any  one  understand  with  what  relief  we 
realized  this  fact?  Confidently  we  be- 
gan to  look  ahead  to  success  now  that, 
at  last,  the  dangers  of  the  mine  fields, 
which  had  been  greater  than  we  had  ex- 
pected, were  behind  us. 

The  exhausted  batteries  were  quickly 
recharged,  in  order  to  be  ready  for 
other  emergencies,  and  then,  with  our 
Diesel  engines  running,  we  went  out 
into  the  open  ocean,  away  from  the  un- 
friendly shores,  to  get  some  fresh  air 
and  to  rest  our  nerves. 

When  the  day  began  to  break,  we 
were  twenty  sea  miles  out  and  had  al- 
ready re-charged  the  batteries  with  so 
147 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

much  power  that,  if  necessary,  we  could 
proceed  for  several  hours  under  water. 
In  the  dusk  of  the  dawn,  we  had  a  new 
surprise. 

Groning,  who,  by  chance,  had  looked 
toward  the  bow  where  the  outlines  of 
our  boat  were  becoming  visible,  sud- 
denly against  all  rules,  grabbed  my  arm. 
With  mouth  open,  eyes  staring,  and  an 
arm  outstretched,  he  pointed  toward  the 
bow. 

"What  is  that?" 

I  ran  up,  bent  forward,  and  fol- 
lowed with  my  eyes  in  the  direction  in 
which  he  was  pointing. 

"What  is  that?"  I  asked  him. 

I  hurried  toward  the  bow,  so  as  to  be 
able  to  see  better.  The  boat's  whole 
deck,  from  the  conning  tower  to  the 
prow,  looked  as  if  it  had  been  divided 
into  regular  squares,  between  which 
148 


A  LIVELY  CHASE 

dark,  indistinguishable  objects  were 
moving  in  snakelike  lines.  Near  me 
there  was  such  a  square.  I  stooped 
down  and  picked  up  a  steel  cord  about 
as  thick  as  my  finger.  A  net,  I  thought, 
certainly  a  net. 

"We  have  the  remnants  of  the  net  all 
over  us,"  I  shouted  through  the  noise  of 
the  storm  to  Groning.  "Get  the  nip- 
pers, hammer,  and  chisel  ready.  As 
soon  as  it  is  light  enough,  we  must  go 
to  work  to  cut  it  free." 

And  the  thick,  dark  snake — ^what  was 
that?  It  came  up  to  starboard,  slipped 
across  the  deck,  and  disappeared  to  port 
into  the  darkness.  It  did  not  take  us 
long  to  find  out  what  kind  of  a  snake  it 
was,  and  I  comprehended  everything 
fully.  That  persistent,  mysterious  pur- 
suit by  the  Frenchman  was  at  once 
plain.  Now  I  understood  clearly  what 
149 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

had  happened  on  the  surface  after 
the  explosion  of  the  mine.  My  heart 
froze  when  I  thought  how  readily  the 
enemy  had  been  able  to  follow  our 
course. 

We  could  easily  trace  the  snake  with 
all  its  curves,  as  it  became  lighter,  be- 
cause it  was  a  long  cork  hawser,  made 
for  the  purpose  of  sustaining  the  net. 
This  was  of  light  cork  of  about  the 
thickness  of  a  forearm  and  was  light 
brown  in  color. 

About  two  hundred  meters  of  this 
easily  perceptible  hawser  were  floating 
on  the  water,  and  gave  us  a  tail  with 
many  curves  in  it.  This  tail,  which  we 
had  been  dragging  after  us,  gave  us  the 
solution  of  the  puzzling  pursuit. 

When  we  had  torn  the  net,  with  our 
engines  at  their  highest  speed,  a  large 
piece  of  it  to  which  the  hawser  was  fas- 
150 


A  LIVELY  CHASE 

tened  had  clung  to  our  U-boat  and, 
after  we  had  submerged,  the  hawser  was 
still  floating  on  the  surface  and  con- 
tinued to  drag  along  behind  us,  still 
floating  when  we  had  submerged  to  a 
great  depth.  The  Frenchman,  who  had 
discovered  us  on  account  of  the  explo- 
sion, had  observed  this,  and,  in  spite  of 
all  our  twistings  and  turnings,  could  fol- 
low us  easily. 

It  was  a  master  work  of  our  able  sea 
crew  to  cut  clear  that  heavy  steel  net. 
The  sea  became  still  higher  and  washed 
furiously  over  the  deck,  angered  by  the 
resistance  of  our  little  nutshell.  The 
men  were  standing  up  to  their  stomachs 
in  the  white,  foaming  waves,  and  had 
to  use  all  their  strength  to  stand  against 
their  force.  Full  of  anxiety,  I  sat  in  the 
conning  tower  with  a  life-saving  buoy 
ready  and  followed  closely  with  worried 
151 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

eyes  every  move  of  my  men  during  their 
dangerous  work. 

All  went  well,  and,  after  a  half  hour's 
hard  work,  we  were  rid  of  the  trouble- 
some net.  The  nippers,  hammer,  and 
chisel  and  six  drenched  sailors  disap- 
peared down  the  conning  tower.  Each 
of  the  six  held  in  his  numbed,  wet  fist 
a  rusty  piece  of  the  net  as  a  souvenir  of 
the  fourteenth  day  of  April. 

The  sun  arose  as  if  nothing  had  hap- 
pened. From  the  eastern  horizon  it 
shone  over  the  French  coast  as  if  to 
say: 

"I  am  neutral!    I  am  neutral!" 

When  it  got  up  higher  in  the  heavens 
and  sent  its  greeting  to  England,  it 
shivered  and  hid  behind  a  thick  cloud. 

What  was  the  matter  with  it?  What 
was  it  that  destroyed  the  joy  of  the 
greeting  of  the  young  morning?  What 
152 


A  LIVELY  CHASE 

was  it  yonder  that  wounded  its  neutral 
heart? 

A  steamer  approached.  Thick,  black 
clouds  of  smoke  poured  out  along  her 
wake  and  hung  heavily  over  the  sea. 
She  had  two  high,  thin  mastheads,  two 
funnels,  slanting  slightly  toward  the 
stern,  and  a  light-colored  hull  with  a 
high  bridge.  "A  funny  ship,"  we  de- 
cided and  submerged. 

When  we  saw  her  clearly  through  the 
periscope  after  a  while,  we  found  out 
the  discouraging  fact  that  she  was  a 
hospital  ship.  The  snow-white  color, 
the  wide  green  bands  from  the  bow  to 
the  stern,  and  the  large  Red  Cross  on 
the  hull  and  the  mast  tops  easily  identi- 
fied her  as  such. 

I  was  just  about  to  turn  away,  as  an 
attack  upon  a  sacred  Red  Cross  ship 
could  not  be  thought  of,  when  my  eyes 
153 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U- 

as  if  by  magic  became  glued  to  some- 
thing I  could  not  make  my  brain  be- 
lieve, something  unheard  of.  I  called 
Groning  to  the  periscope,  so  that  he 
could  be  sure  I  made  no  mistake.  No, 
I  was  right,  and,  to  my  amazement,  I 
saw  an  insolence  which  was  new  to  this 
world.  No  wonder  that  the  sun  had  hid- 
den its  face  in  order  not  to  see  this 
scorn  and  mockery  of  humanity.  No 
neutral  sun  could  shine  on  anything  like 
that.  Only  the  moon  could  stand  such 
lights,  although  they  must  disgust  even 
the  moon,  used  to  dark  deeds. 

The  ship,  which  was  safe  under  the 
holy  flag  of  humanity  and  mercy,  was 
loaded  from  bow  to  stern  with  artillery 
supplies,  and  amongst  the  guns  and  am- 
munition there  was  crowded  an  army  of 
soldiers  and  horses.  Under  the  protec- 
tion of  the  colors  of  the  flags,  which  they 
154 


A  LIVELY  CHASE 

were  so  atrociously  misusing,  they  were 
proceeding  in  the  daylight  on  the  way 
to  the  front. 

"Such  a  crowd!"  exclaimed  Groning, 
and  stepped  back  from  the  periscope. 

"And  such  a  shame  that  we  can't 
touch  it,"  said  I,  furious,  and  stamped 
on  the  iron  floor  so  that  it  resounded. 
"I  would  like  to  have  gotten  hold  of  it. 
Such  nasty  people,  such  hypocrites! 
But  it  can't  be  helped.  The  boat  is  too 
fast  and  too  far  away  for  us  to  head  it 
off." 

Of  course,  we  tried  and  went  after  it 
at  top  speed  for  some  time.  But  the 
distance  became  greater  instead  of  les- 
sening, and,  with  our  batteries  ex- 
hausted, we  had  to  abandon  the  chase. 
Then  we  turned,  furious  and  swearing, 
and  came  to  the  surface  again  after  a 
little  time. 

165 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

It  was  a  very  unpleasant  feeling, 
after  a  short  chase,  to  have  to  lie  with 
exhausted  batteries,  and  limp  ahead  like 
a  lame  horse.  Consequently  we  did  not 
attempt  any  new  enterprise,  but  re- 
mained on  the  open  water  for  several 
hours  charging  our  storage  batteries. 
Just  as  we  were  about  through  with  this 
work,  there  came  along  an  insolent 
trawler  which  started  to  chase  us.  None 
of  us  had  any  desire  to  submerge  again, 
because  the  sun  was  shining  so  beauti- 
fully, and  it  became  warmer  with  each 
minute  we  headed  south. 

As  the  propeller,  now  free  from  the 
nets  with  which  we  were  fouled,  could 
give  us  our  best  speed,  we  immediately 
began  the  race  and  hastened  laughingly 
and  in  good  spirits  ahead.  Our  boat 
cut  through  the  waves  with  such  speed 
as  it  showed  when  it  first  came  from  its 
156 


A  LIVELY  CHASE 

wharf.  The  foam  made  a  silver-white 
mane  for  us.  What  did  we  care  if  we 
got  wet?  We  went  at  top  speed,  ancj, 
smihng,  looked  at  the  smoking  and  puff- 
ing steamer  behind  us. 

"He'll  never  catch  us,"  I  said  to 
Kriiger,  who  had  come  up  to  the  con- 
ning tower  to  ask  if  we  were  going  fast 
enough,  or  if  he  should  try  to  get  more 
speed  out  of  our  engines.  "Just  keep 
her  turning  at  the  same  rate,  Herr  En- 
gineer. That's  sufficient.  It  looks  now 
as  if  we  were  gaining,"  I  told  him. 

Our  pursuer  seemed  to  realize  he 
could  not  overtake  us  and  tried  to  anger 
us  in  other  ways.  Suddenly  a  gun 
flashed  and  a  cloud  of  brown  smoke 
surrounded  the  small  steamer  for  a  sec- 
ond. Shortly  after  that  a  small  shell 
splashed  into  the  water  about  a  thou- 
sand meters  from  us  and  a  water  spout 
167 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

not  higher  than  a  small  tree  arose  from 
the  sea. 

We  laughed  aloud. 

"Such  a  rotten  marksman!  He  wants 
to  irritate  us  with  a  shotgun.  That's 
ridiculous." 

"That's  an  insolence  without  an 
equal,"  argued  Lieutenant  Petersen  an- 
grily, who  felt  that  he  had  been  insulted 
in  his  capacity  of  the  artillery  officer 
aboard.  "We  should  not  submit  to 
this  outrage.  May  I  answer  him,  Herr 
Captain?"  he  asked  me  with  eyes  flash- 
ing. 

"Yes,  you  may  try  as  far  as  I  am 
concerned,  Petersen,  but  only  three 
shots.  You  can't  hit  him  at  this  dis- 
tance, anyway,  and  our  shells  are  valu- 
able." 

Grinning  with  joy,  Petersen  hurried 
to  the  guns,  leveled,  aimed  and  fired, 
158 


A  LIVELY  CHASE 

himself,  while  the  water  washed  around 
him  up  to  his  waist. 

"Too  short  to  the  right!"  I  shouted 
to  him,  after  I  observed  the  high 
water  spout  through  my  double  marine 
glasses. 

The  next  shot  fell  close  to  the 
steamer.  It  became  too  hot  for  our  pur- 
suer. He  turned  quickly  and  went  back 
in  the  same  direction  from  which  he  had 
come.  But  the  hunting  fever  had  got- 
ten into  our  blood.  We  also  turned 
and  pursued  the  fleeing  pursuer.  Show 
us  what  you  can  do  now,  engines ! 

Shot  after  shot  flashed,  roaring  from 
our  cannon.  The  distance  was  almost 
too  great  for  our  range.  We  had  to  set 
the  gun  at  the  highest  possible  angle  in 
order  to  have  any  chance  of.  hitting  him. 
The  first  shots  all  fell  short,  or  to  the 
side,  but  at  the  eighth  we  made  a  hit. 
159 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

A  roaring  hurrah  greeted  the  dark- 
brown  explosion  which  marked  the  ar- 
rival of  the  shell  on  the  trawler. 

In  vain,  the  trawler  sent  one  shot 
after  another  at  us.  They  never  came 
near  us.  On  our  side,  however,  one  hit 
followed  another,  and  we  could  see  that 
the  hostile  ship  was  listing  heavily  to 
port,  and  we  hoped  to  be  able  to  give 
him  his  death  blow,  when  the  outlines 
of  three  of  his  colleagues  were  sighted 
behind  and  to  the  right  and  left  of  him, 
approaching  at  great  speed.  Our  only 
chance  was  to  turn  again  in  order  to 
avoid  being  surrounded,  since  too  many 
dogs  can  kill  the  hare. 

Early  in  the  evening  we  submerged 
to  keep  ourselves  at  a  safe  depth.  We 
were  very  tired,  because  we  had  had 
thirty-eight  hours  of  work  and  realized, 
now  that  all  the  excitement  was  over, 
160 


A  LIVELY  CHASE 

how  the  nerves  began  to  relax.  To  be- 
gin with,  the  nerve  strain  showed  itself 
by  the  fact  we  could  hardly  go  to  sleep, 
tired  as  we  were.  And  when  we  did 
doze  off  at  last,  we  had  many  disturb- 
ing dreams.  I,  myself,  lay  awake  for 
hours  and  heard  through  the  open  doors, 
in  the  deadly  quiet  of  the  U-boat,  how 
the  men  tossed  about  in  their  bunks 
during  their  sleep,  talking  and  mutter- 
ing. It  was  as  if  we  were  in  a  par- 
rot's cage  instead  of  a  submarine.  Also 
I  lived  over  again  during  the  night  most 
of  the  events  of  the  past  hours.  The 
only  difference  was,  peculiarly  enough, 
that  I  was  never  the  fish,  but  always 
the  fisherman  above  the  surface  who 
constantly  tried  to  catch  my  own  U-boat 
with  a  destroyer. 

When  I  woke  I  could  hardly  un- 
tangle the  real  situation,  because  I  saw 
161 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  V-W2 

the  French  Captain-Lieutenant's  black- 
bearded  face  before  me,  when,  with 
great  joy  in  his  small  dark  eyes,  he 
said: 

"Diable,  il  faut  attraper  la  canaille!" 


lltt 


VIII 

THE  BRITISH   BULL-DOG 

IN  the  morning  a  clear,  blue  sky  and 
a  calm  sea  greeted  us.  The  wind 
had  abated  during  the  night  and  had 
changed  so  that  it  came  from  the  direc- 
tion of  land,  and,  therefore,  could  not 
disturb  the  sea  to  any  great  extent.  In 
the  best  of  spirits,  well  satisfied  and  re- 
freshed by  our  breakfast,  we  were  sit- 
ting on  the  conning  tower,  and  enjoy- 
ing the  mild  air  of  spring  and  puffing 
one  cigarette  after  another.  During  the 
night  we  had  reached  the  position  where, 
for  the  present,  we  intended  to  make  our 
attacks  on  the  merchant  transportation 
which  was  very  flourishing  in  that 
16S 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

region.  We  crossed  the  steamship  lanes 
in  all  directions  with  guns  loaded  and 
with  a  sharp  lookout  so  as  not  to  lose 
any  opportunity  to  damage  the  enemy's 
commerce. 

Shortly  before  dinner  the  first  mer- 
chant ship  arose  on  the  south  horizon. 
It  was  a  sailer,  a  large,  full-rigged 
schooner,  which,  hard  by  the  wind, 
headed  towards  the  French  coast.  With 
majestic  calm,  lightly  leaning  to  the 
wind,  the  splendid  ship  approached. 
The  snow-white  sails  glittered  in  the 
sun  in  the  far  distance.  The  light,  slen- 
der hull  plowed  sharply  through  the 
sea. 

With  a  delighted  "Hello,"  we  hurled 
ourselves  on  our  prey.  Above  our  heads 
fluttered  pennants  and  signal-flags 
which  signified: 

"Leave  the  ship  inmiediatelyl" 
164i 


THE  BRITISH  BULL-DOG 

Sharply  and  distinctly  in  the  bright 
sun  the  command  traveled  from  our 
boat  to  the  large,  heavily-loaded  ship, 
and  the  colors  of  the  German  flag- 
of-war,  which  floated  from  the  mast 
behind  the  tower,  left  no  doubt 
of  the  grim  sincerity  of  the  com- 
mand. 

Did  they  not  have  a  signal-book  over 
there,  or  did  they  not  want  to  under- 
stand us?  Ah!  A  flag  went  up  on  the 
main-mast.  The  wind  unfolded  it  andf 
proudly  and  distinctly,  France's  tri- 
color could  be  seen.  The  flag  stopped 
at  half-mast — a  distress-signal!  The 
flag  on  half-mast  was  the  pursued  sail- 
er's call  for  help.  They  understood  our 
command  and  were  now  looking  for  as- 
sistance before  obeying  us.  Wait,  my 
little  friend,  we'll  soon  get  that  out  of 

you. 

165 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U 

"Hoist  the  signals:  *Stop  immedi- 
ately or  FU  shoot  I' " 

The  signal  flew  up.  Now,  look  here, 
Frenchy,  this  is  no  joke;  soon  the  lit- 
tle, gray  animal,  which  is  circling 
around  you,  will  bite. 

"We  will  give,  them  three  minutes  to 
consider  the  matter,  then  we'll  shoot 
down  the  masts,"  I  said  to  Lieutenant 
Petersen,  who  was  standing  by  the  guns, 
and,  in  his  excitement,  was  stepping 
from  one  foot  to  another. 

With  watch  in  hand,  I  counted  three 
full  minutes.  The  sailer  did  not  take 
any  notice  of  us,  just  as  if  our  exist- 
ence had  nothing  to  do  with  him. 

"Such  impudence,"  I  murmured,  as 
I  put  down  my  watch.  Soon  thereafter 
resounded  through  the  entire  boat: 

"Fire!" 

"Rrrrrmsl"  the  guns  thundered  with 
166 


THE  BRITISH  BULL-DOG 

a  deafening  roar,  and  the  shell  whistled 
through  the  schooner's  high  rigging,  in 
which  it  tore  a  large  hole,  struck  the 
mainyard  of  the  forward  mast,  ex- 
ploded, and  snapped  off  the  heavy- 
mast,  so  that,  with  its  sails,  it  fell 
like  a  broken  wing  on  the  deck  of  the 
ship. 

The  results  were  immediately  appar- 
ent. The  red  and  white  pennant,  which 
in  the  international  language  means :  "I 
understand!"  flew  to  the  masthead.  The 
sailors,  who  had  gathered  in  groups, 
looked  at  us  in  alarm.  They  were  scat- 
tered by  the  commands  of  the  captain 
and  hurried  in  all  directions  to  their 
posts.  Giving  orders  in  the  singing  ac- 
cents of  the  French  language,  the  sails 
were  soon  lowered  and  the  ship  slowed 
up.  The  boats  were  swung  out  and 
made  ready,  and  men,  with  life-saving 
167 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

buoys,  were  running  all  over  in  great 
excitement. 

We  closed  in  on  the  ship  to  wind- 
ward, and  I  called  to  the  captain  to 
make  haste — ^that  I  would  give  him  just 
ten  minutes  more  to  get  away  before 
torpedoing  his  ship. 

In  the  bow  compartment,  where  the 
torpedo  tubes  are  built  into  the  U-boat 
and  the  torpedoes  themselves  are  stored, 
there  was  feverish  activity  from  the  min- 
ute we  saw  the  hostile  ship  and  the 
alarm  was  sounded.  It  is  cramped  in 
the  forward  part  of  a  U-boat,  very 
cramped,  and  it  is  necessary  to  have  a 
special  crew  of  very  skilled  men  to  be 
able  to  accomplish  their  purpose  in  this 
network  of  tubes,  valves,  and  pumps. 
The  officers'  mess,  which  is  just  back 
of  the  torpedo  compartment,  is  quite 
roomy  and  comfortable.  It  was  now 
168 


THE  BRITISH  BULL-DOG 

changed  in  a  moment  to  an  uninhabi- 
table place.  Ready  hands  pulled  down 
the  oil-stained  curtains  in  front  of  the 
bunks  and  folded  up  the  narrow  table 
and  the  four  chairs  without  backs. 
These  were  all  placed  in  a  corner  hur- 
riedly, and  the  luxuries  were  all  gone, 
making  room  to  handle  the  torpedoes. 
Schweckerle,  in  command  of  the  tor- 
pedo tubes,  was  like  a  father  in  the  way 
he  watched  over  his  torpedoes.  He  loved 
them  as  if  they  were  children  and  con- 
tinually oiled  and  greased  them  and  ex- 
amined them  carefully.  They  said  of 
him  that  he  mourned  when  he  had  to 
separate  himself  from  one  of  them. 
And  I,  myself,  saw  that  when  a  tor- 
pedo, for  some  reason  or  other  slightly 
turned,  did  not  strike  its  target,  he  went 
around  broken-hearted  for  many  days 
and  could  not  eat. 

169 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-20a 

This  faithful  fellow  was  now  busily- 
occupied  taking  care  of  his  children  and 
had  selected  "Flink"  and  "Reissteufel" 
(these  were  his  names  for  the  two  tor- 
pedoes now  ready  for  the  tubes)  when 
the  command  was  given: 

"First  torpedo  tube  ready!" 

This  meant  "Reissteufel"  was  to 
go. 

Schweckerle  was  in  his  element  and, 
when  he  gave  his  commands,  the  sailors 
ran  as  if  the  devil  was  at  their  heels. 

"You  here!  You  there!  You  take 
that!  You  take  the  other!  Forward! 
Hurry!  Take  hold!  Get  the  oil  can! 
That's  good!  That's  enough!  Now 
put  it  in — push  it  forward!  Now  hold 
back !     Slowly — slowly — stop !" 

One  last  word  of  encouragement  to 
the  torpedo  disappearing  into  the  tube ! 
At  last  the  parting  glance,  and  Schweck- 
170 


THE  BRITISH  BULL-DOG 

erle  slammed  the  tube  shut,  and  "Reiss- 
teufel"  was  ready  to  go  on  his  way. 

At  once  this  was  reported  to  me  in 
the  conning  tower,  but  only  a  few  of 
the  allotted  ten  minutes  had  passed  and 
we  had  plenty  of  time.  We  took  a 
closer  look  at  the  sailing  ship  before 
we  sent  her  to  the  bottom  for  good. 
She  was  a  large  modern  ship,  con- 
structed entirely  of  steel,  and  had  the 
latest  equipment  over  all,  even  in  the 
rigging.  She  could  carry  a  cargo  of 
from  three  to  four  thousand  tons  and, 
without  doubt,  had  come  from  a  long 
distance,  because  sailing  ships  of  this 
size  do  not  travel  along  the  coast.  What 
kind  of  a  cargo  did  she  carry? 

The  French  crew  stepped  into  her 

boats  and  left  their  ship.    The  last  boat 

was  capsized,  when  it  was  launched,  and 

all  in  it  fell  into  the  sea.    Another  one 

171 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

of  the  boats  came  quickly  to  the  rescue 
and  picked  up  the  swimming  and  strug- 
gling sailors.  When  all  had  been  saved, 
I  turned  our  prow  toward  the  sailing 
ship,  which  was  now  lying  absolutely 
still,  and  fired  our  first  torpedo. 

Poor  Schweckerle!  There  it  goes, 
but  it  heads  straight,  Schweckerle,  true 
as  an  arrow.  Bravo,  Schweckerle !  The 
French  in  the  lifeboats,  who  had  ap- 
proached us  where  they  believed  them- 
selves safest,  yelled  in  terror  when  the 
detonation  followed  and  the  water  spout 
was  thrown  high  above  the  mastheads. 

"Oh,  mon  Dieu !  Mon  Dieu !  Notre 
pauvre  vaisseau!" 

"Poor  devils,"  I  thought.  "I  under- 
stand how  you  feel  over  your  beautiful, 
fine  ship,  but  why  didn't  you  stay  at 
home?  Why  do  you  go  to  sea  when 
you  know  what  threatens  ?  Why  do  you 
172 


THE  BRITISH  BULL-DOG 

or  your  governments  force  us  to  destroy 
your  ships  wherever  we  can  find  them? 
Do  you  think  we  are  gong  to  wait  until 
our  own  women  and  children  starve  and 
let  you  keep  your  bread  baskets  full  be- 
fore we  defend  ourselves?  You  have 
started  it.  You  are  responsible  for  the 
consequences.  If  you  would  discontinue 
your  inhuman  way  of  carrying  on  the 
war,  then  we  would  let  your  sailing 
ships  and  steamers  pass  unmolested, 
when  they  do  not  carry  contraband. 
You  have  wanted  war  to  the  knife. 
Good,  we  have  accepted  your  chal- 
lenge." 

The  sailing  ship  sank  rapidly  by  the 
stern,  turning  over  on  her  side  until 
the  yard  arms  touched  the  water  and 
the  red  bottom  could  be  seen.  And,  at 
last,  when  the  pressure  burst  the  for- 
ward cargo  hatch,  there  was  a  shower  of 
173 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

corn,  and  the  proud  ship,  with  a  dying 
gurgle,  disappeared  into  the  deep. 

The  captain  came  aboard  us.  He 
never  lost  for  a  minute  his  personality 
as  a  polite  Frenchman  with  elegant 
manners.  He  swung  himself  into  the 
conning  tower,  smiled  with  the  pleas- 
antry of  a  boulevardier,  and,  with  a  gra- 
cious bow,  handed  his  ship's  papers  to 
"mon  capitaine."  In  the  most  polite 
and  courteous  German,  I  offered  him 
a  cigarette,  for  which  he  thanked  me 
with  a  smile,  as  if  we  had  been  the  best 
of  friends  for  years.  We  questioned 
him.  From  where  was  he  coming  and 
where  bound?  He  answered  frankly 
and  showed  us  without  requesting  it 
what  a  valuable  catch  we  had  made.  It 
impressed  him  greatly  how  we  were 
traveling  about  in  our  little  shell,  and 
there  was  no  doubt  he  had  an  inclination 
174 


THE  BRITISH  BULL-DOG 

to  go  along  with  us  on  our  sea-robbing 
voyage,  if  he  could  have  done  it. 

When  I  asked  him  why  he  had  not 
obeyed  our  signals  to  stop,  he  acted  as 
innocent  as  a  new-born  baby,  and  as- 
sured us  that  he  never  saw  our  signals. 
Indeed,  he  went  so  far  as  to  say  he  had 
not  even  observed  our  U-boat  until  we 
fired  our  gun.  When  I  pointed  out  to 
him  that  he  had  hoisted  the  signal  of 
distress  long  before  that  and  that  this 
made  his  story  hardly  believable,  he 
dropped  the  subject  with  great  skill  and 
gave  the  conversation  a  new  turn.  It 
was  impossible  to  catch  this  smooth 
Frenchman,  and  when  I  had  him  cor- 
nered so  that  another  man  would  not 
have  known  what  to  say,  he  slipped 
through  the  conversation  like  an  eel  with 
his  great  politeness. 

I  was  struck  with  surprise  to  see 
175 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

his  men  so  well  dressed,  washed,  and 
shaved.  I,  a  "barbarian,"  did  not  want 
to  be  behind  the  Frenchman  in  point  of 
manners,  so  I  complimented  him  on  his 
crew's  splendid  appearance.  Then  he 
began  to  lament. 

"Oh,  my  poor  boys,"  he  complained. 
"They  have  not  looked  so  well  through- 
out our  voyage,  but  only  to-day  they 
have  been  scrubbing  themselves,  because 
they  hoped  to  be  able  to  get  ashore  to- 
night. See  this,  mon  capitaine,"  he  con- 
tinued and  opened  his  log — "on  Janu- 
ary 23rd  we  cleared  from  Saigon  and 
have  sailed  nearly  around  the  world, 
and  now,  only  a  few  hours  before  reach- 
ing our  port,  we  are  met  with  such  a 
disaster.  What  a  tragedy!  What  a 
tragedy!" 

I  consoled  him  the  best  I  could  and 
promised  to  assist  them  so  that  they 
176 


THE  BRITISH  BULL-DOG 

could  land  at  the  same  time  they  had 
hoped.  Then  I,  as  he  was  about  to 
leave  the  U-boat,  offered  him  another 
cigarette,  shook  his  hand  amicably,  and 
sent  him  off  the  ship. 

We  had  agreed  that  I  would  tow  his 
boats  toward  the  coast  until  some  new 
spoils  hove  into  sight.  Then  they  would 
have  to  do  the  best  they  could  for  them- 
selves. 

Soon  after  two  o'clock,  this  occurred 
when  the  mastheads  with  the  tips  of 
white  sails  arose  over  the  horizon. 

We  cast  off  from  the  boats,  wished 
the  Frenchman  a  safe  journey,  and 
turned  toward  our  new  prey,  while 
Schweckerle  made  "Flink"  ready. 

As  we  came  nearer,  we  discovered 
something  that  made  us  jump.  We  had 
been  certain  that  the  ship  which  was  ap- 
proaching was   a   large  three-master, 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

rigged  somewhat  like  the  one  that  we 
had  just  sunk,  but  what  now  astonished 
us  and  aroused  our  suspicion  was  that 
we  distinctly  saw,  at  times,  dark  clouds 
of  smoke  that  seemed  to  be  closely  as- 
sociated with  the  sailing  ship  which 
floated  between  and  behind  her  sails. 

"Anything  that  you  cannot  explain 
is  always  suspicious." 

In  accordance  with  this  well  tested 
rule  for  U-boats,  we  cautiously  kept  off 
a  little,  so  as  to  let  the  mysterious  ship 
pass  us  at  some  distance.  We  had  heard 
too  much  of  U-boat  sinking  to  rush  at 
anything  blindly.  What  would  hap- 
pen if,  behind  the  mask  of  the  big  sail- 
ing ship,  a  ready  and  fast  torpedo  boat 
was  sneaking  which,  quick  as  lightning, 
would  swoop  down  on  us?  First  we 
must  find  out  with  what  we  had  to  deal. 

We  could  soon  make  out  what  it  was. 
178 


THE  BRITISH  BULL-DOG 

At  a  distance  of  about  two  hundred 
meters  in  front  of  the  sailer,  there  was  a 
strong  tug  pulling  the  full-rigged  ship 
with  a  thick  hawser,  so  that  it  could 
make  better  time.  There  was  nothing 
suspicious  in  this  in  these  parts  of  the 
sea.  It  often  happened  that  saihng 
ships  were  towed  in  over  the  final  fifty- 
miles  of  their  voyage  to  reach  port  be- 
fore evening,  and  thus  gain  an  entire 
day.  The  large  tugboats  went  far  out 
to  sea  and  tendered  their  high-priced 
services. 

"Ah,"  we  thought,  "there  is  no  dan- 
ger here!  But  on  the  contrary,  it  looks 
like  a  grand  chance  to  sink  a  ship,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  send  its  crew  ashore 
safely" — ^the  thought  we  always  had  in 
mind  when  it  did  not  interfere  with  our 
duty. 

I  rubbed  my  hands  in  satisfaction. 
179 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

We  would  give  the  crew  of  the  sailing 
ship  a  chance  to  get  aboard  the  tugboat 
and  so  send  them  home.  Maybe  they 
might  also  meet  the  shipwrecked  crew 
of  the  French  sailing  ship  and  take  them 
aboard. 

At  top  speed  we  headed  for  the  tug- 
boat. First  we  circled  round  our  prey 
to  be  sure  that  we  would  not  be  sur- 
prised by  a  masked  gun  and  especially 
examined  the  tugboat,  because  he  trav- 
eled back  and  forth  daily  through  the 
danger  zone,  and  would  be  more  apt  to 
be  armed  than  would  the  sailing  ship 
coming  from  a  long  voyage. 

There  was  nothing  suspicious  to  be 
seen — therefore  we  advanced.  We  ap- 
proached the  stem  of  the  tugboat, 
slowed  down,  and,  within  calling  dis- 
tance, kept  pace  with  him.  Groning, 
Petersen,  Lohmann,  and  a  sailor  were 
180 


THE  BRITISH  BULL-DOG 

with  me  in  the  conning  tower.  The  tug- 
boat flew  the  British  flag.  I  shouted 
with  the  full  power  of  my  lungs : 

"Take  aboard  the  crew]  Take  aboard 
the  crew!" 

I  waved  with  my  left  hand  toward 
the  sailing  ship,  in  order  to  make  my 
meaning  clear.  The  commander  of  the 
"little  bulldog,"  as  Petersen  called  the 
tugboat,  took  his  short  clay  pipe  out  of 
his  mouth,  spat  far  out  from  the  bridge 
where  he  was  standing  in  a  careless  at- 
titude, but  otherwise  took  no  notice  of 
us  except  that  he  may  have  thrown  a 
shrewd,  cunning  glance  our  way.  I 
thought  he  was  hard  of  hearing  and 
drew  a  little  closer  and  yelled  again: 

"Take  the  crew  off!" 

The  wind  had  increased  during  the 
last  few  hours  and  the  sea  began  to  run 
higher  and  was  washing  over  our  deck* 
181 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

It  was  impossible  for  us  to  use  our  guns 
' — the  crew  would  have  been  swept  away 
without  any  chance  of  being  saved — 
And  we  were,  for  that  reason,  unable  to 
emphasize  our  commands  in  a  desirable 
manner,  but  we  knew  what  to  do  when 
the  commander  on  the  "bulldog"  did  not 
display  any  inclination  to  comply  with 
our  ten-times  repeated  order.  I  had  a 
l*evolver  handed  to  me  from  below  and 
let  a  bullet  whistle  close  to  the  head  of 
the  stubborn  rascal.  The  Englishman 
seemed  to  understand  this  language  bet- 
ter. He  abandoned  his  careless  slouch, 
blew  the  tug's  siren,  and  yelled  loud, 
sharp  commands  to  the  crew.  Then  he 
turned  for  the  first  time  towards  me,  put 
his  hand  to  his  cap  with  a  short  salute, 
and  next  lifted  his  right  hand  vertically 
in  the  air,  which,  according  to  the  inter- 
national language  of  sailors,  meant : 
182 


THE  BRITISH  BULL-DOG 

"I  understand  and  will  obey." 

The  crew  on  the  "bulldog,"  which  in 
reality  bore  the  name  Ormea,  had,  how- 
ever, cast  off  the  hawser  and  were  now 
standing  idly  all  around  the  deck  with 
their  hands  in  their  pockets  and  looked 
at  us  curiously.  The  captain  went  to 
the  engine  telegraph  and  signaled 
"Half  speed  ahead." 

"Ha,"  we  thought,  "now  he'll  turn 
and  lay  himself  alongside  the  sailing 
ship." 

What  happened  next  took  only  a 
minute. 

When  the  Ormea  had  gathered  speed, 
it  certainly  turned — but  not  to  port, 
which  would  have  been  the  nearest  way, 
but  towards  us.  At  the  same  time  the 
skipper  signaled  to  his  engine  room : 

"Full  speed  ahead!" 

The  sturdily  built,  speedy  tug  rushed 
183 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  V-W2 

at  us,  pushing  aside  the  waves  with  her 
prow. 

We  had,  of  course,  been  keenly  ob- 
serving every  move  made  on  the  tug- 
boat, but  suspected  nothing  until  that 
moment  when  he  headed  straight  for  us. 

"The  man  is  crazy!"  I  yelled.  "He 
intends  to  ram  us.  Full  speed  with  both 
engines.    Hard  a-starboard !" 

But  it  looked  as  if  we  had  grasped  the 
situation  too  late.  The  tug  had  gotten 
a  start  on  us  in  speed  and  came  at  us, 
smoking  copiously,  like  a  mad  bulldog. 
The  distance  between  us,  which  to  be- 
gin with  had  been  two  hundred  meters, 
decreased  with  great  rapidity.  Now  the 
prow  was  hardly  fifty  meters  from  us. 
Our  hair  stood  on  end. 

"Bring  up  pistols  and  guns,"  I  called 
down. 

These  weapons,  which  were  hanging 
184 


THE  BRITISH  BULL-DOG 

always  loaded,  were  quickly  handed  up 
to  us,  and  we  opened  a  quick  fire  on  our 
onrushing  enemy.  Already  I  saw  the 
captain's  sly,  water-blue  eyes  scornfully 
glittering  and  read  the  spiteful  joy  in 
his  grinning  face.  He  had  good  rea- 
son to  feel  happy.  He  would  reach  us, 
he  must  reach  us,  because  he  had  greater 
speed  than  we  had,  and  his  position  was 
more  advantageous.  Nearer  and  nearer 
came  the  moment  when  would  stick  his 
blunt,  steel  prow  into  our  side,  and  the 
nearer  he  approached,  the  harder  our 
hearts  beat. 

Twenty  meters — fifteen  meters !  Was 
there  no  escape — no  hope  of  rescue? 

Yes !  Groning,  the  calm  and  thought- 
ful Groning,  became  our  savior.  He 
was  on  one  knee  by  me  on  the  conning 
tower  platform  and  sent  one  shot  after 
another  at  the  oncoming  target.  Sud- 
185 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

denly  he  caught  the  idea  which  saved 
us. 

"The  hehnsman!"  he  yelled.  "All 
men  aim  at  the  helmsman!" 

In  the  pilot  house  with  glass  windows, 
stood  the  mate  of  the  Ormea  by  his 
wheel  with  a  sinister  grin  searching  for 
the  point  where  the  blow  would  be  most 
deadly.  We  saw  him  distinctly  as  he 
stood  there. 

Action  followed  immediately  on 
Groning's  saving  thought.  We  stopped 
the  wild  shooting  against  the  danger- 
ous prow,  and  all  of  us  aimed  at  the 
helmsman  and  fired.  Hardly  had  the 
first  volley  been  discharged  when  we 
heard  a  shriek,  and  the  Englishman 
threw  his  arms  high  and  fell  forward 
over  his  wheel.  As  he  fell,  he  gripped 
the  spoke  of  the  wheel  and  spun  it 
around.  This  saved  us  from  our  great- 
186 


THE  BRITISH  BULL-DOG 

est  danger.  The  prow  which  was  to 
have  crushed  us  was  only  about  three 
meters  distant  when  the  tug  was  thrown 
hard  aport,  so  that  it  hit  only  the  air. 

To  show  how  close  the  tug  was  to  us, 
as  it  swung,  its  stern  struck  our  diving 
tank  and  left  a  scar  as  a  remembrance. 
As  the  beast  of  prey  after  missing  does 
not  attempt  another  leap,  so  the  tug- 
boat put  on  full  speed  in  an  effort  to 
escape.  The  whistling  of  our  bullets 
and  the  loss  of  his  mate  had  apparently 
made  a  coward  out  of  a  little  tugboat 
captain,  but  we  gave  him  credit  for  hav- 
ing been  resourceful,  after  we  had  re- 
covered from  the  excitement  of  the  mo- 
ment and  recalled  all  the  circumstances. 

I  quietly  pressed  Groning's  hand  and 

smilingly  touched  the  spot  on  his  breast, 

there    just   below   his    brave,    fearless 

heart,  a  spot  which,  in  accordance  with 

187 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

the  command  of  his  Majesty,  the 
Kaiser,  should  be  reserved  for  the  re- 
ward due  such  a  hero.  To-day  that 
place  is  decorated  with  the  black,  silver 
framed  Iron  Cross. 


188 


IX 

HOMEWARD   BOUND  I 

WHY  should  I  continue  relating 
events  which  were  coupled  with 
less  danger  and  were  less  remarkable 
than  those  we  had  already  experienced 
and  which  I  have  already  carefully  de- 
scribed ?  The  climax  of  the  j  ourney  was 
reached  at  the  encounter  with  the 
Ormea,  and,  after  the  climax  is  reached, 
one  should  be  brief.  For  those  inter- 
ested, I  can  assure  them  that  we  did  not 
let  the  schooner  escape  which  had  tried 
to  save  herself  by  flight,  but  hurried 
quickly  after  her,  and,  as  soon  as  the 
crew  had  disembarked,  torpedoed  her. 
However,  we  regretted  that  the  captain 
189 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U- 

of  the  tug  that  tried  to  ram  us  escaped 
through  her  superior  speed. 

We  were  fortunate  enough  to  make 
another  catch  on  this  same  day,  just  as 
darkness  was  setting  in,  a  steamer 
loaded  with  meat,  inward  bound  from 
Sydney.  We  continued  for  several  days 
through  this  fruitful  field  of  operation 
in  every  direction  and  had  both  good 
and  bad  luck.  Schweckerle  had  to  bite 
into  a  bitter  apple  several  times,  as  one 
after  another  of  his  children  faithlessly 
abandoned  him.  But  he  had  the  joy  of 
knowing  that  none  of  them  went  con- 
trary to  his  good  bringing-up  and  the 
care  it  had  received. 

Many  successes  we  put  down  in  our 
log  and  sometimes  exciting  episodes  and 
narrow  escapes,  when  our  enemy's  de- 
stroyers and  patrol  ships  came  across 
our  path  of  daily  toil,  so  that  we  should 
190 


HOMEWARD  BOUND! 

not  be  too  presumptuous  and  careless. 

Then  at  last  came  the  day  when  we 
decided  to  start  our  homeward  jour- 
ney. The  torpedoes  and  shells  were  ex- 
hausted. Of  oil,  fresh  water,  and  pro- 
visions we  had  such  a  scanty  supply 
left  that  it  was  necessary  for  us  to  re- 
turn. It  was  impossible  to  tell  what 
kind  of  weather  we  would  have  on  our 
return  trip,  and,  if  it  did  not  storm, 
there  might  be  strong  head  winds  to 
hold  us  back. 

I  decided  to  take  a  new  route  for  our 
journey  home.  The  Witch-Kettle  with 
its  horrors  was  still  fresh  in  our  minds 
and  we  preferred  to  take  a  roundabout 
way,  rather  than  to  run  risks  which 
could  be  easily  avoided  after  a  success- 
fully completed  task.  In  this  period  of 
thirteen  days  our  nerves  had  been  af- 
fected and  there  was  little  power  of  re- 
191 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

sistance  left  in  them.  It  would  not  be 
advisable  to  put  them  to  another  severe 
test. 

So  it  came  to  pass  on  the  fifteenth  day 
after  the  start  of  the  voyage,  that  a 
great  storm  hit  us  and  for  several  days 
kept  us  hard  at  work.  We  found  our- 
selves far  up  in  the  North  Atlantic 
where  the  warm  spring  for  a  long  time 
still  wears  its  winter's  furs,  and  the  sun 
never  rises  high.  The  icy,  north  wind, 
which  blows  three-quarters  of  the  year, 
would  in  any  event  devour  all  his 
warmth. 

Repentantly,  we  had  again  picked  up 
our  thick  camel's  wool  garments  which 
we  had  laid  off  in  the  southern  waters. 
The  further  we  went  north,  the  heavier 
the  clothes  that  we  donned. 

In  addition  to  the  cold  there  came  a 
storm,  the  like  of  which  I  had  never  seen 
19S 


HOMEWARD  BOUND! 

during  my  entire  service  on  the  sea,  and 
to  describing  which  I  will  devote  a  few 
lines,  because  a  storm  on  a  U-boat  is 
altogether  different  from  a  storm  at  sea 
in  any  other  vessel. 

The  barometer  had  been  uncertain  for 
two  days.  Its  hasty  rising  and  falling 
in  accordance  with  the  changes  of  the 
atmosphere  made  us  suspect  we  would 
soon  get  rough  weather.  It  was  the 
night  between  April  twenty-fourth  and 
twenty-fifth.  We  traveled  submerged 
to  a  considerable  depth,  and  I  was  lying 
in  my  bunk  asleep,  partly  undressed. 
At  about  two  o'clock  I  was  awakened 
and  received  the  report : 

"Lieutenant  Petersen  asks  that  the 
Captain-Lieutenant  kindly  come  to  the 
'Centrale,'  as  it  is  impossible  for  him 
to  steer  the  boat  any  longer  alone." 

I  threw  on  my  jacket  and  hurried  for 
193 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

the  stern.  On  my  way,  on  account  of 
the  heavy  rolling  of  the  boat,  I  realized 
what  was  the  trouble.  There  must  be 
R  terrific  storm  above  accompanied  by  a 
sea  which  only  the  Atlantic  could  stir 
up. 

Lieutenant  Petersen  confirmed  my 
opinion  of  the  conditions  which  had  de- 
veloped during  the  night  and  added  that 
he  had  never  had  so  much  trouble  with 
the  diving  rudder  before  in  his  life.  This 
meant  a  great  deal,  for  Petersen  was 
with  me  when  our  U-boat  had  been 
equipped  for  service  for  the  first  time, 
and  had  already  gone  through  all  kinds 
of  weather.  In  spite  of  all  the  watch- 
fulness that  he  and  the  well-trained 
crew  used,  the  diving  rudder's  pressure 
was  not  powerful  enough  to  resist  the 
enormous  strength  of  the  waves.  The 
boat  was  tossed  up  and  down  as  if  she 
194i 


HOMEWARD  BOUND! 

had  no  rudder  whatever.  Only  after  we 
had  submerged  twice  as  deep  as  we 
had  been  were  we  able  to  steady  the 
boat  to  any  degree.  We  could  still  feel 
the  force  of  the  sea  and  knew  the  storm 
must  be  terrific. 

When,  at  daybreak,  we  arose  to  the 
surface  there  was  no  chance  to  open  the 
hatches.  The  opal  green  mountains  of 
waves  came  rolling  and  foaming  at  us. 
They  smothered  the  boat  with  the  great 
masses  of  water,  washed  completely 
over  the  deck  and  even  up  over  the 
tower.  If  any  one  had  dared  to  open 
the  hatch  and  go  out  on  the  conning 
tower,  he  would  certainly  have  been  lost. 
I  was  standing  at  the  periscope  and 
observed  the  wrath  of  the  elements.  It 
seemed  as  if  we  were  in  a  land  of  moun- 
tains which  the  U-boat  had  to  climb, 
only  to  be  suddenly  hurled  down  again. 
195 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

I  could  see  only  so  far  as  the  next 
ridge,  which  always  seemed  to  be  even 
higher  than  the  last,  and  if  there  had 
been  any  chance  of  seeing  more,  it 
would  have  been  impossible  in  the  fly- 
ing foam  and  spray.  The  rain  whipped 
the  water  violently  and  darkened  the 
sky  so  that  it  was  like  dusk.  The  boat 
worked  itself  laboriously  through  the 
heavy  sea.  The  joints  cracked  and 
trembled  when  the  boat  slid  down  from 
the  peak  of  a  wave  to  be  buried  in  the 
deep  trough. 

We  had  to  cling  to  some  oil-soaked 
object  in  order  not  to  be  tossed  about. 
Through  the  strain  put  on  the  body  by 
the  terrible  rolling  of  the  boat,  by  the 
damp,  vaporous  air,  and  by  lack  of  sleep 
and  food,  we  finally  became  exhausted, 
but  at  this  time  we  had  no  desire  to  eat. 
The  storm  continued  for  three  days  and 
196 


HOMEWARD  BOUND! 

nights  without  abating.  Then  the  sky- 
cleared,  the  wind  dropped,  and  the  sea 
became  cahner.  At  noon  of  the  third 
day  the  sun  broke  through  the  clouds 
for  the  first  time.  Shortly  before  this, 
we  had  dared  open  the  conning  tower 
hatch  and  greeted  the  rays  of  the  sun, 
although  we  had  to  pay  for  this  pleas- 
ure with  a  cold  bath. 

We  had  been  drifting  about  for  three 
days  without  knowing  our  location.  No 
wonder  we  greeted  our  guide  with  great 
joy,  and  quickly  produced  the  sextant 
to  find  out  where  we  were.  Our  cal- 
culations showed  that,  during  the  en- 
tire time,  we  had  been  circling  around 
in  one  spot  and  had  not  gotten  one  mile 
nearer  our  port.  But  what  did  that  mat- 
ter? The  storm  was  abating,  the  sea 
was  calming  down,  and  our  splendid, 
faithful  boat  had  stood  the  test  once 
197 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

more,  and,  in  spite  of  all  storms,  had 
survived. 

We  reached  the  North  Sea  the  next 
afternoon  and  could  change  our  course 
to  the  south  with  happy  hearts.  Every 
meter,  every  mile,  every  hour  brought 
us  nearer  home.  No  one  who  has  not, 
himself,  experienced  this  home-coming 
can  understand  the  joy  that  fills  a 
U-boat  sailor's  heart  when,  after  a  suc- 
cessful voyage,  he  sees  the  coast  of  his 
fatherland ;  or  when  he  turns  the  leaves 
of  his  log  and,  astonished,  reads  the 
scrawled  lines  which  tell  fairy  tales  of 
the  dangers  and  joys  and  asks  himself: 

"Have  you  really  gone  through  all 
that?" 

Who  can  understand  the  joy  of  a 

commander's  heart  when,  sitting  by  his 

narrow  writing  table,  he  is  carefully 

working  out  his  report  to  his  superiors  ? 

198 


HOMEWARD  BOUND! 

"Have  sunk  X  steamers — X   sailing 

ships." 

All  around  me  were  the  happy  faces 
of  the  crew.  All  were  satisfied,  every 
danger  past  and  forgotten,  thanks  to 
the  strength  of  youth  and  their  stout 
hearts. 


'April  30 — Nine-thirty  A.  M. 

The  lead  was  thrown.  Now  the  wa- 
ter became  shallow,  for  we  are  going 
into  the  bay — the  German  bay. 

"It's  twenty-four  meters  deep,"  re- 
ported Lohmann,  who  in  his  feverish  de- 
sire to  get  ashore  had  been  up  on  the 
conning  tower  since  four  o'clock,  al- 
though he  should  really  have  been  off 
watch  at  eight.  He  wanted  to  be  the 
first  one  to  sight  land,  because  he  is 
proud  of  his  fine  eyesight  and  was  as 
199 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

happy  as  a  child  when  he  discovered 
something  before  his  commander  did. 

"The  lead  shows  twenty- four  1" 

"See  if  it  agrees  with  the  chart,"  I 
called  to  the  mate  who  sat  in  the  con- 
ning tower  with  the  chart  on  his  knee. 

"It  agrees  exactly,"  the  mate  called 
back,  after  he  had  compared  the  meas- 
urement by  the  lead  with  the  depth  that 
was  marked  on  the  chart  where  we  es- 
timated we  were. 

"How  far  is  it  to  land?" 

"Eight  and  a  half  miles." 

In  five  more  minutes,  the  Germaij 
islands  of  the  North  Sea  arose  before 
our  eyes.  Now  we  were  unable  to  re- 
strain ourselves  further.  We  tore  off 
our  caps  and  waved  them  exultantly, 
greeting  our  home  soil  with  a  roaring 
hurrah.  Our  cheer  penetrated  into  the 
boat,  from  stern  to  prow,  and  even  set 
200 


HOMEWARD  BOUND! 

Schweckerle's  heart  on  fire,  where  he 
was  sitting  alone  and  idle  amongst  the 
torpedo  cradles. 

Shortly  thereafter  we  glided  into  the 
mouth  of  the  river  with  the  pennant 
bearing  our  name  proudly  fluttering 
from  the  masthead.  This  told  all  the 
ships  that  met  us: 

"Here  comes  U-boat  202!" 

All  knew  by  our  announcement  that 
we  were  returning  from  a  long  voyage 
and  we  were  greeted  with  an  enthusias- 
tic and  noisy  reception.  Officers  and 
men  thronged  the  decks,  and  in  our  in- 
most hearts  we  appreciated  the  great 
cheer: 

"Three  cheers  for  his  Majesty's 
U-202!    Hurrah!    Hurrah!    Hurrah!" 

Thus  the  proud  German  high  seas 
fleet  received  our  little  roughly-used 
boat. 

201 


.THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  U-202 

At  three  o'clock  on  the  afternoon  of 
'April  30  U-202  dropped  her  anchor  in 
the  U-boat  harbor. 


302 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  50  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.00  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE.  -k 


■iOV    ^-  V^^ 


MAY    7  1939 


\m    4   1940' 


TtifWt 


\^ 


^^ 


W^ 


OCT  2  3  19684  8 


7>f:  9,'^l(.<^[ 


RECEIVtiD 


?iW20'68-OPN 


LOAN  DEPT. 


WECDLD    AUGl 


R'73-2PM#a 


$^ 


l:>S9i 

^7S 


389687 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


